Johnson caught in UK ‘constitutional web’

Bloomberg

Britain’s top judges moved out of the Houses of Parliament a decade ago. The 11 Supreme Court justices declared their independence from the building across the road by delivering a stinging rebuke to Boris Johnson.
The panel, sitting in its own building in Westminster, positioned itself as the ultimate arbiter in a constitutional clash and reasserted that parliament is the senior partner in government.
“The court is clearly saying that we see ourselves as properly policing the boundaries of constitutional behaviour,” said Raphael Hogarth, an associate at the Institute for Government, a London-based research group. “The idea of parliamentary accountability, responsible government — that is the language of a constitutional court.”
The legal challenge to the powers of the prime minister shows how the political infighting over Brexit had strained Britain’s largely unwritten constitution to its limits. For while the judgment was hailed by lawmakers for holding Johnson to account, it faced criticism from a pro-Brexit group for revealing what it called “totally political motives.”
The prime minister said he thought the judges reached the wrong decision, but that he would respect the judicial process. He says he is determined to deliver Brexit by the end of next month, whatever the cost, even if it means leaving with no agreement in place to cushion the blow.
Johnson framed the shutdown of parliament as way to bring forward a new domestic agenda but his critics accused him of attempting to deny lawmakers the chance to stop him forcing the UK out of the EU without a deal next month.
The prime minister’s decision to suspend parliament for five weeks had wrecked the ability of Britain’s elected politicians to fulfill their crucial democratic role, the court said. It not only ruled the move “unlawful” but went further by quashing the decision, allowing lawmakers to return to work.