Hong Kong’s Highest Court Reviews the National Security Law Carefully
The Court of Final Appeal building in downtown Hong Kong. (Samuel Wong, https://tinyurl.com/3zcr2wc7; CC BY-NC 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/)
Since its establishment in 1997, Hong Kong’s apex court, the Court of Final Appeal, has demonstrated a strong approach to constitutional review in human rights cases. It has struck down laws and executive acts found to be in violation of protected fundamental rights and freedoms. But in the wake of Hong Kong’s new National Security Law, is that changing?
In HKSAR v. Lai Chee Ying (2021) HKCFA 3, the court ruled it had no jurisdiction to constitutionally review the controversial National Security Law (NSL), which created new national security offenses in Hong Kong punishable by up to life imprisonment, a high-level security committee, new law enforcement bodies, and new police powers including surveillance powers without judicial authorization