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U.K. Supreme Court rules Boris Johnson's Parliament suspension "unlawful"
Posted
September 24, 2019
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2:07Now PlayingThe U.K.’s top judges inflicted an unprecedented legal defeat on Prime Minister Boris Johnson, branding his controversial decision to suspend Parliament unlawful and calling on lawmakers to return to Parliament as soon as possible.
The unanimous landmark decision by the 11 judges Tuesday is a boost for MPs seeking to prevent Johnson pulling the country out of the European Union by Oct. 31 without a deal. By limiting the prime minister’s power to suspend Parliament in the future, the judges also deprived Johnson of one of his last weapons to force through Brexit before his self-imposed deadline.
The decision to prorogue Parliament was “unlawful, void and of no effect,” Judge Brenda Hale, president of the Supreme Court, said delivering the ruling. The decision to “prorogue Parliament was unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions without reasonable justification.”
The prime minister’s opponents had argued that the suspension was a sham designed to stymie democratic scrutiny. Johnson, who is in New York this week trying to negotiate a revised deal with European leaders, now faces the challenge of getting Brexit through Parliament without a majority, full control over the parliamentary timetable -- or a way to avoid scrutiny from lawmakers.
The pound initially advanced on the court’s decision, but markets quickly settled back as traders assessed the lingering uncertainty.
Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow called for Parliament to reconvene.
“As the embodiment of our Parliamentary democracy, the House of Commons must convene without delay,” Bercow said in a statement. “ To this end, I will now consult the party leaders as a matter of urgency.”
The legal challenge to the powers of the prime minister shows how the political infighting over Brexit has strained Britain’s largely unwritten constitution to its limits. It has also pushed the judiciary into the uncomfortable position of having to rule on a question of politics, something Britain’s Supreme Court has largely eschewed.
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