Jonathan Swift (judge)
{{Short description|British judge}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = The Honourable
| successor =
| nationality = British
| death_place =
| death_date =
| birth_place = Rochford, England
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1964|09|11|df=yes}}
| term_end2 =
| term_start2 =
| office2 =
| predecessor =
| name = Mr Justice Swift
| monarch = Charles III
| term_end =
| term_start = 1 October 2018
| office = Justice of the High Court
| caption = Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
| imagesize = 100px
| image = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (Tudor crown).svg
| honorific-suffix =
| alma_mater = Emmanuel College, Cambridge
New College, Oxford
}}
Sir Jonathan Mark Swift (born 11 September 1964){{Cite web |date=2020-12-01 |title=Swift, Hon. Sir Jonathan (Mark), (born 11 Sept. 1964) |url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-251045 |access-date=2022-04-17 |website=Who's Who (UK) |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u251045|isbn=978-0-19-954088-4 }} is a British High Court judge.
Early life and education
Swift was born in Rochford, England and educated at Southend High School for Boys. He studied at New College, Oxford and completed a BA in 1987. He followed this with an LLM at Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1988.
He was called to the bar at Inner Temple in 1989 and practised from 11 King's Bench Walk.{{Cite web |date=2018-08-01 |title=Jonathan Swift QC elevated to the High Court Bench |url=https://www.11kbw.com/knowledge-events/news/jonathan-swift-qc-elevated-to-the-high-court-bench/ |access-date=2022-04-17 |website=11KBW}} He was First Treasury Counsel from 2007 to 2014 and took silk in 2010. He served as a recorder from 2010 to 2018 and was appointed deputy High Court judge in 2016.
High Court career
On 1 October 2018, Swift was appointed a High Court judge, and assigned to the Queen's Bench Division.{{Cite web |title=Senior Judiciary |url=https://www.judiciary.uk/about-the-judiciary/who-are-the-judiciary/senior-judiciary-list/ |access-date=2022-04-17 |website=Judiciary UK}} He took the customary knighthood in the same year. Since 2020, he has been judge in charge of the Administrative Court.{{Cite web |date=2020-03-20 |title=Judge in Charge of the Administrative Court |url=https://www.judiciary.uk/announcements/judge-in-charge-of-the-administrative-court/ |access-date=2022-04-17 |website=Judiciary UK}}
On 10 June 2022, Swift ruled in favour of the UK Government that the deportation flights of unsuccessful asylum seekers in the UK to Rwanda should be allowed to proceed, as there was material public interest in doing so.{{Cite news |date=2022-06-10 |title=UK judge refuses injunction against Rwanda deportation flights |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/c9da3b67-8ae4-4478-8383-94f2460b64c7 |access-date=2022-06-13}} He added in his ruling that the risk posed to refugees was "in the realms of speculation".{{Cite web |date=2022-06-10 |title=UK deportation flight to Rwanda can go ahead, high court judge rules |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/10/uk-deportation-flight-rwanda-can-go-ahead-high-court-judge-rules |access-date=2022-06-13 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}
On 8 June 2023, Swift ruled in favour of the UK Government, and rejected the appeal of political prisoner Julian Assange's legal team, which had filed two appeals before the court against then UK Home Secretary Priti Patel's decision to extradite Wikileaks founder being indicted by the United States under the Espionage Act.{{Cite web |date=2022-06-10 |title=Julian Assange 'dangerously close' to US extradition after losing latest legal appeal |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jun/09/julian-assange-dangerously-close-to-us-extradition-after-losing-latest-legal-appeal |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}
Personal life
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Queen's Bench Division of England & Wales}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Jonathan}}
Category:21st-century English judges
Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford
Category:Members of the Inner Temple
Category:People educated at Southend High School for Boys
Category:Queen's Bench Division judges