A blind lay judge could not be removed from the pool of lay judges

The appellant is blind. In the autumn of 2024, he was elected to the pool of lay judges in a municipality. In February 2025, he was summoned to serve as a lay judge in a criminal case. The professional judge in the case took the view that he could not perform such service because he was blind. The District Court subsequently decided to remove him from the municipality’s pool of lay judges.

The case concerned the interpretation of the condition that a person must be “personally suitable” to serve as a lay judge; see section 70 of the Courts of Justice Act. The question was whether a blind person may be removed from the pool of lay judges on the ground that the visual impairment entails that he is not personally suitable for the task.

The majority of the Supreme Court (4–1) held – in the light of Article 5 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and section 9 of the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act – that the condition “personally suitable” in section 70 of the Courts of Justice Act must be interpreted restrictively in order to satisfy the requirement of proportionality under those sources of law. A person is eligible for the pool of lay judges even if he or she is blind or has other disabilities. The assessment of whether a person with disabilities is suitable to serve as a lay judge must be carried out concretely in each individual case, based on the nature of the case and the possibilities for adjustments.

The minority found that it was not disproportionate to require that those elected to the ordinary pool of lay judges must be able to perform service “in a significant proportion of cases”, and that the appeal should be dismissed.

Read the order from the Supreme Court (Norwegian only) (PDF)

Key paragraphs: 48, 54, 62, 73

Justices: Bull, Arntzen, Høgetveit Berg, Stenvik, Steen