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Boris Johnson’s Suspension of Parliament Was Unlawful, U.K. Supreme Court Rules



By Mark Landler

Sept. 24, 2019, 5:46 a.m. ET

LONDON — The British Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson illegally suspended Parliament, dealing him another heavy blow and thrusting the nation’s politics into even deeper turmoil, barely a month before it is scheduled to leave the European Union. The decision, which upheld a ruling from Scotland’s highest civil court, reopens a debate over Brexit that was short-circuited when Mr. Johnson asked the queen to suspend, or prorogue, Parliament for five weeks.

Though it has historically avoided politics, the court made a landmark decision to intervene in a fierce clash between Mr. Johnson and Parliament over when and how to exit the European Union. The court essentially endorsed the judgment of the Scottish court that Mr. Johnson’s suspension was an effort to stymie debate before an Oct. 31 withdrawal deadline, which he had pledged to meet even if Britain and Brussels did not reach an agreement on the terms.

As a practical matter, it was not clear how much the decision would change the government’s immediate approach to Brexit. In the days before they were dispersed, members of the House of Commons pushed through a law — over the prime minister’s fierce opposition — that would prohibit Mr. Johnson from pursuing a “no-deal Brexit.”

But in symbolic terms, the court ruling was a stinging rebuke for the prime minister. It raised the question of whether he had misled Queen Elizabeth II in asking her to prorogue the Parliament. And it added to the perception that his Conservative government was running roughshod over Britain’s most hallowed political conventions in its zeal to extract the country from Europe.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/24/world/europe/uk-supreme-court-brexit.html