Ashton Schippers

Ashton Schippers (born 19 June 1958) is a South African judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal. Before his elevation to that court in June 2018, he served in the Western Cape High Court from February 2013 to May 2018. He was formerly an advocate in Cape Town, where he took silk 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 under apartheid and grew up in a large family, one of seven siblings, in Bridgetown, Athlone on the Cape Flats of Cape Town. After matriculating at Bridgetown High School in Athlone, Instead, he studied part-time at the University of South Africa, where he completed a BProc in 1982 and an LLB in 1986. He was the chairperson of the Cape Bar Council between 2004 and 2006, In addition, on numerous occasions between 1998 and 2011, he served as an acting judge in the Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa. He was nominated by Advocates for Transformation. ' The Commission recommended Schippers as suitable for appointment, and President Jacob Zuma confirmed his appointment in February 2013, with effect from 15 February. 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. Schippers ruled that the Public Protector's remedial action was not binding or legally enforceable in the same way as a court order, 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 Jacob Zuma 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's Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services, and its chairperson Mathole Motshekga, 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 Constitutional Court 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 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 model. 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. and he joined the bench on 1 June 2018.

Personal life He is married to Brenda Schippers and has two children. He is Christian, and, an avid cyclist, has completed multiple long-distance cyclosportives through the Alps and Pyrenees as well as many Argus Cycle Tours.