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Government Insists Suspension of Parliament Was Legal

The British government was back at the country's Supreme Court on Wednesday, arguing that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's prorogation of Parliament just weeks before the country is to leave the European Union was neither improper nor illegal.

LONDON (AP) — The British government was back at the country's Supreme Court on Wednesday, arguing that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's prorogation of Parliament just weeks before the country is to leave the European Union was neither improper nor illegal.

It's the second day of a historic three-day hearing that pits the powers of Britain's legislature against those of its executive as the country's scheduled Brexit date of Oct. 31 approaches, with it uncertain effects upon the U.K. economy.

Government lawyer James Eadie argued that a lower court was right to rule that Johnson's suspension of Parliament was a matter of "high policy" and politics, not law. Eadie called the prorogation of Parliament "inherently and fundamentally political in nature," and hence beyond the reach of the courts.

He said if the courts intervened, it would violate the "fundamental constitutional principle" of the separation of powers between courts and the government.

"This is, we submit, the territory of political judgment, not legal standards," Eadie said.

The government's opponents say that Johnson shut down Parliament illegally just weeks before the country is due to leave the 28-nation bloc for the "improper purpose" of dodging lawmakers' scrutiny of his Brexit plans. They also accuse Johnson of misleading Queen Elizabeth II, whose approval was needed to suspend the legislature.

Johnson claims the shutdown was routine and not related to Brexit. He sent lawmakers home on Sept. 9 until Oct. 14, barely two weeks before Britain's Oct. 31 departure from the EU.

Johnson says Britain must leave the EU on Halloween with or without a divorce deal. But many U.K. lawmakers believe a no-deal Brexit would be economically devastating and socially destabilizing. They have put obstacles in his way, including a law compelling the government to seek a delay to Brexit if it can't get a divorce deal with the EU.

Parliament's suspension spared Johnson further meddling by the House of Commons but sparked legal challenges, to which lower courts gave contradictory rulings. England's High Court said the move was a political rather than legal matter, but Scottish court judges ruled Johnson acted illegally "to avoid democratic scrutiny."

The Supreme Court is being asked to decide who was right. The justices will give their judgment sometime after the hearing ends Thursday.

A ruling against the government by the 11 Supreme Court judges could force Johnson to recall Parliament.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said Wednesday that the risk of Britain leaving the EU without a divorce deal remained "very real" because Britain had not produced workable alternatives to the deal agreed upon with the EU by ex-British Prime Minister Theresa May. That deal was repeatedly rejected by Britain's Parliament, prompting May to resign and bringing Johnson to power in July.

"I asked the British prime minister to specify the alternative arrangements that he could envisage," Juncker told the European Parliament. "As long as such proposals are not made, I cannot tell you — while looking you straight in the eye — that progress is being made."

Juncker, who met with Johnson on Monday, told members of the EU legislature in Strasbourg, France, that a no-deal Brexit "might be the choice of the U.K., but it will never be ours."

After the debate, the European Parliament was to adopt a resolution laying out its concerns about Britain's impending departure from the EU.

Categories / International, Law, Politics

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