The French court

It is a precarious task to periodise a Court that is stillwriting its own history. This chapter recognises the difficulties inherent in this task, but attempts cautiously to undertake it. It analyses the High Court between the appointment of Robert French as Chief Justice by the Rudd Labor Government in September 20081 and the re-appointment of Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister in June 2013. This was a period of significant instability in the federal government, including the replacement of Rudd by Julia Gillard as Prime Minister due to a change of leadership in the Australian Labor Party (ALP) on 24 June 2010, followed by a period of minority government for Gillard after the federal election on 21 August 2010, and then Gillard’s deposition as ALP leader and Prime Minister by Kevin Rudd on 26 June 2013. This chapter addresses the relationship between the High Court and mainstream political opinion in three sections. The first section focusses on the innovative decision-making of the Court and the relative paucity of concomitant critique of its decision-making within the media and public discourse. The second part focusses on the ways in which cases decided by the French Court highlight its shifting role as a majoritarian and countermajoritarian institution. We analyse the prevalence and impact of various understandings of majoritarianism - public opinion, elite opinion, partisanship, and legislative majorities - in the context of cases concerning public health and immigration selected for their political saliency in relation to government policy