Lord Sumption, former supreme court judge, says Robert Jenrick's plan for lord chancellor (justice sec) to appoint judges would be serious mistake. "If judges were appointed in today’s polarised world by the lord chancellor, I do not think the public would have the same confidence in their independence. "They’re actually appointed by the judicial appointments commission, which is an independent, non-political body, and it looks for the same qualities in the judges it appoints. "The only possible reason for going back to the old system would be to appoint judges who were less independent or more political than the ones appointed by the judicial appointments commission. "In the United States, the supreme court has become subservient to the president and enabled him to behave like an autocrat. I think that that is a very serious business in the United States, and we should be very careful to take take warning from it."