Judicial Responses to Politically Sensitive Cases in an Authoritarian Setting: The Case of Hong Kong

ABSTRACT: Courts around the globe have increasingly handled politically sensitive issues. Judicial decisions that are unfavourable to the political elites may invite political attacks. An emerging literature has explored how courts around the world develop strategies to respond to politically thorny issues. This article contributes to this literature by studying how courts in Hong Kong develop strategies for handling politically sensitive cases. Based on in-depth analysis of 58 politically sensitive cases that were heard by courts in Hong Kong between 1999 and 2023, this article finds that Hong Kong’s courts adopt the following strategies: deference to the government, denying standing to the applicants, ruling that the applicants failed to follow the proper procedures, deciding that a dispute does not exist, delaying the political and legal effects of judgments that are unfavourable to the government, and emphasising that politics plays no role in judges’ decisions. KEYWORDS: politically sensitive cases, judicial politics, courts under authoritarianism, law and society, Hong Kong.