Navigating Continuity and Change: The High Court on Constitutional Law in the 2024 Term

The High Court’s 2024 constitutional law term was in the shadow of two major constitutional decisions handed down in late 2023. There were no moments of great rupture, and instead the Court had to come to grips with, and work out the implications of, its decision in NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs and the extent of the protections offered by Chapter III. In considering the 2024 constitutional law term, this article looks at how the High Court navigated both continuity and change. It does this by considering the extent to which the Court looks outwards to the world (the present), the extent to which it draws on history and precedent (the past), and finally the question of constitutional change (the future). These orientations of present, past, and future offer one way of understanding some of the deep divisions on the Court in the 2024 term.