Ashton Schippers (born 19 June 1958) is a South African

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

of the Supreme Court of Appeal. Before his elevation to that court in June 2018, he served in the

Western Cape High Court The Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa (previously named the Cape Provincial Division and the Western Cape High Court, and commonly known as the Cape High Court) is a superior court of law with general jurisdiction over the ...

from February 2013 to May 2018. He was formerly an advocate in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, where he

took silk A King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Qu ...

in 2004 and where he was chairperson of the bar council between 2004 and 2006.

Early life and education

Schippers was born on 19 June 1958. He was designated as

Coloured Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

under

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

and grew up in a large family, one of seven siblings, in Bridgetown, Athlone on the

Cape Flats The Cape Flats () is an expansive, low-lying, flat area situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town. The Cape Flats is also the name of an administrative region of the City of Cape Town, which lies within the larger geo ...

. After matriculating at Bridgetown High School in Athlone, he enrolled at the

University of the Western Cape The University of the Western Cape (UWC; ) is a Public university, public research university in Bellville, South Africa, Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the Politics of South Africa, South ...

, but he left in his second year in order to take up odd jobs to support himself. Instead, he studied part-time at the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, UNISA has over 400,000 student ...

, where he completed a BProc in 1982 and an

LLB A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

in 1986. In later years, he completed two master's degrees: an

LLM A large language model (LLM) is a language model trained with Self-supervised learning, self-supervised machine learning on a vast amount of text, designed for natural language processing tasks, especially Natural language generation, language g ...

at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

in 1988, focusing on

company law Corporate law (also known as company law or enterprise law) is the body of law governing the rights, relations, and conduct of persons, companies, organizations and businesses. The term refers to the legal practice of law relating to corp ...

and international

law of the sea Law of the sea (or ocean law) is a body of international law governing the rights and duties of State (polity), states in Ocean, maritime environments. It concerns matters such as navigational rights, sea mineral claims, and coastal waters juris ...

, and an LLM at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1991, supported by a

Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

and focusing on

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

and

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

. While serving on the bench in 2019, he completed a postgraduate diploma in

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

Legal practice

While an LLB student, Schippers served his articles of clerkship at a firm in Cape Town, and upon his graduation in 1986 he continued working in the city, first briefly as a prosecutor and then briefly as a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

. After two years as an attorney at Fairbridges Attorneys in Cape Town, he moved to

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in 1990 to take up his study at Harvard. Thereafter he worked in

Washington, D. C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

between 1991 and 1993, first as an attorney at

Fulbright & Jaworski Fulbright & Jaworski was founded in Houston, Texas, in 1919 by Rufus Fulbright. Fulbright & Jaworski represented clients in the energy, financial, and healthcare industries. As trustees of the M.D. Anderson Foundation, Fulbright & Jaworski partn ...

and then as an associate at the National Center for Dispute Resolution. Upon his return to South Africa, Schippers was admitted to the Cape Bar as an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

in June 1993. He was also admitted to the New York Bar in 1995. Over the next two decades, he practised as an advocate in Cape Town, taking silk on 15 February 2004. He developed a reputation for practice of

public law Public law is the part of law that governs relations and affairs between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that ...

and featured as counsel in several notable

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

cases, including '' Government v Grootboom'', on the justiciability of socioeconomic rights; '' Mohamed v President'', on the legality of

extradition In an extradition, one Jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction delivers a person Suspect, accused or Conviction, convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforc ...

or deportation to a second country where the subject faces the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

(in this case, the deportation of Khalfan Khamis Mohamed to the United States); and ''United Democratic Movement v President'', which established the constitutionality of floor-crossing. He was the chairperson of the Cape Bar Council between 2004 and 2006, in which capacity he was involved in adjudicating a complaint of racism against Judge John Hlophe. In addition, on numerous occasions between 1998 and 2011, he served as an acting judge in the

Western Cape Division The Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa (previously named the Cape Provincial Division and the Western Cape High Court, and commonly known as the Cape High Court) is a superior court, superior court of law with general juris ...

of the

High Court of South Africa The High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law in South Africa. It is divided into nine provinces of South Africa, provincial divisions, some of which sit in more than one location. Each High Court division has general jurisdiction ov ...

Western Cape High Court: 2013–2018

In October 2012, Schippers was one of eight candidates shortlisted and interviewed for permanent appointment to five vacancies at the Western Cape High Court. He was nominated by Advocates for Transformation. During his interview with the Judicial Service Commission, Schippers was asked about the slow pace of

transformation Transformation may refer to: Science and mathematics In biology and medicine * Metamorphosis, the biological process of changing physical form after birth or hatching * Malignant transformation, the process of cells becoming cancerous * Trans ...

in the legal profession and raised his concern with racially skewed briefing patterns, saying that, despite his high status in the profession, he remained dependent on briefs from the state attorney because private firms were reluctant to brief black advocates. The Commission recommended Schippers as suitable for appointment, and President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

confirmed his appointment in February 2013, with effect from 15 February.

''Democratic Alliance v SABC''

Schippers's most notable judgement in the Western Cape High Court was ''Democratic Alliance v South African Broadcasting Corporation'', in which the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) sought an urgent interdict compelling the public

South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (Amplitude modulation, AM/Frequency modulation, FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general ...

(SABC) to suspend SABC executive

Hlaudi Motsoeneng Hlaudi Motsoeneng is the leader of African Content Movement (ACM) who served as the acting (law), acting Chief operating officer of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) from 2011 to 2013. Motsoeneng was removed from his position as ...

. The DA's application was based on a report by the Public Protector, which found evidence of misconduct by Motsoeneng and proposed as remedial action that Motsoeneng should be suspended pending a disciplinary inquiry. In October 2014, Schippers ruled in favour of the DA, granting the requested interdict. More significant, however, was his assessment of the legal status of the powers of the Public Protector, especially the power to "take remedial action" as provided for in Section 182 of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

. Schippers ruled that the Public Protector's remedial action was not binding or legally enforceable in the same way as a

court order A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying o ...

, but that it was not merely recommendatory, either, and could not merely be disregarded by organs of state. According to Schippers, the decision not to implement remedial action had to be rational and could be subject to rationality review by the courts. This reasoning was of immediate political import because of recent findings by the Public Protector against President

in the Nkandlagate scandal. The incumbent Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, objected strenuously to the judgement, saying that it undermined her office's constitutional authority and that it would make enforcement contingent on "financially crippling" litigation by the Public Protector. Several months later,

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development is a portfolio committee of the National Assembly of South Africa. It is responsible for oversight of the agencies managed by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Developme ...

, and its chairperson

Mathole Motshekga Mathole Serofo Motshekga (born 2 April 1949) is a retired South African politician and lawyer. He represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly of South Africa between May 2009 and May 2024, during which time he was ...

, forced Madonsela publicly to apologise for having called Schippers's judgement "a cut and paste judgement". Motsoeneng also appealed Schippers's ruling. In October 2015, in ''SABC v DA'', the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal, upholding Schippers's order that the SABC should institute disciplinary proceedings against Motsoeneng. However, it rejected Schippers's reasoning to this end, finding instead that the Public Protector's directives were indeed binding and enforceable. The

ultimately shared the Supreme Court's view in '' Economic Freedom Fighters v Speaker of the National Assembly'', which tested the enforceability of Madonsela's directives in the Nkandla saga. Madonsela appeared as

amicus curiae An amicus curiae (; ) is an individual or organization that is not a Party (law), party to a legal case, but that is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. Wheth ...

in the latter case, maintaining her argument that Schippers's judgement had denuded the constitutional authority of her office. Asked about the saga later, Schippers said that he accepted the decision of the appellate courts but that his own starting point had been the notion that the Public Protector's office was based on the

ombudsman An ombudsman ( , also ) is a government employee who investigates and tries to resolve complaints, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. They are usually appointed by the government or by parliament (often with a sign ...

model.

Supreme Court secondment

During his five years in the High Court, Schippers served a lengthy stint as an acting judge in the Supreme Court of Appeal between November 2016 and May 2018. During that time, he wrote the Supreme Court's unanimous judgement in ''Scalabrini Centre v Minister of Home Affairs'', setting aside as unlawful the Department of Home Affairs's decision to close the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office.

Supreme Court of Appeal: 2018–present

In April 2018, Schippers was one of nine candidates shortlisted for three permanent vacancies at the Supreme Court of Appeal. He was nominated by Senior Counsel Vincent Maleka, who noted "his industry and pursuit of justice". During his interview with the Judicial Service Commission, he was asked about his judgement in ''DA v SABC'' and commended for his contribution to the development of junior counsel from underrepresented groups; he said that, as Senior Counsel, he had always practised with black juniors, aside from one instance when a white female junior was "foisted" upon him. The Judicial Service Commission recommended him for appointment, alongside Tati Makgoka and

Mahube Molemela Mahube Betty Molemela (; born 18 March 1965) is a South African judge who has been the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal since 1 June 2023. Before her appointment to the Supreme Court in June 2018, she was the first woman Judge Presiden ...

, and he joined the bench on 1 June 2018.

Personal life

He is married to Brenda Schippers and has two children. He is

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, and, an avid cyclist, has completed multiple long-distance cyclosportives through the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

and

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

as well as many Argus Cycle Tours.