Qualification

Justices: Webster, Bull, Normann, Ringnes, Berglund

Justice Steinsvik is qualified to hear an appeal regarding the evidence requirement when assessing whether an asylum seeker is a minor.

In connection with an appeal in the Supreme Court where the State represented by the Immigration Appeals Board was the respondent, the appellants, five asylum seekers, and the third-party intervener NOAS, objected to the qualification of Justice Steinsvik based on her previous service at The Office of the Attorney General and her friendship with Counsel Skog Hauge.

A majority of four justices found that Justice Steinsvik was qualified. The employment was terminated in 2014. As the contact between Justice Steinsvik and Counsel Skog Hauge was described, the friendship was not so close that it entailed disqualification.

The majority found also after an overall assessment of the former employment, the friendship and the subsequent contact, that there were no special circumstances suggesting that Justice Steinsvik was disqualified.

The majority emphasised that the assessment of whether a friendship may entail disqualification may be different if the justice is friends with a party to the case. One justice found that Justice Steinsvik was disqualified.

The order gives guidance to the interpretation of section 108 of the Courts of Justice Act.