Supreme Court

The Supreme Court was able to conduct a closed material procedure on appeals against decisions of the courts of England and Wales on applications brought under s 63(2) of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008. Section 40(2) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 provided that an appeal lay to the Supreme Court against “any” judgment of the Court of Appeal. That had to extend to a judgment which was wholly or partially closed. In order for an appeal against a wholly or partially closed judgment to be effective, the hearing would have to involve, normally only in part, a closed material procedure. An appeal under s 40(2) of the 2005 Act was “an appeal…under any enactment”. Accordingly, where an appeal was brought against a decision under the 2008 Act, the Supreme Court had “power to determine any question necessary to be determined for the purposes of doing justice in” such an appeal. On any appeal where the judgment was wholly or partly closed, the Supreme Court could not do justice, or at least would run a