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Raphael Hogarth
@Raphael_Hogarth
, 8 tweets, 5 min read Read on Twitter
Today the Court of Session ruled that sthe Prime Minister acted unlawfully when he advised the queen to prorogue Parliament. What is going on with court challenges to prorogation, and what does it all mean?

@instituteforgov explainer in summary:
1/8
 instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/cou…
This is one of three challenges to prorogation - one for each legal system in the UK.
2/8
 instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/cou…
The Court of Session said that the prorogation was unlawful because its purpose was to stymie parliamentary scrutiny of the executive, and that scrutiny is essential to democracy and the rule of law.
3/8
 instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/cou…
The challengers say that this means Parliament was never prorogued and is currently in session after all. But it doesn't look like we have an order from the court yet to the effect that the prorogation was null and void.
4/8
 instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/cou…
The High Court ruled recently that the prorogation was lawful. But the High Court was applying English public law, not Scottish public law. So the English and Scottish decisions can be different, counter-intuitive as it seems.
5/8
 instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/cou…
Things should get a bit clearer when the Supreme Court has the final word on this next week. Crucially, the Government has to win in every jurisdiction to win at all. If the prorogation was unlawful in Scotland, it was unlawful full stop.
6/8
 instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/cou…
The Supreme Court might say that the prorogaton was lawful. If it says the prorogatin was unlawful, then that could either mean that the Government must start the new session sooner than it planned to, or that the old session never stopped at all.
7/8
 instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/cou…
What about Brexit? MPs have already legislated to stop no deal on Oct 31 so the ruling doesn't affect that. But, the outcome of the case does have huge implications for Parliament's ablity to scrutinise the Government's renegotiation and no deal prep.
8/8
 instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/cou…
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More from @Raphael_Hogarth see all

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Raphael Hogarth
@Raphael_Hogarth
This is a 900-word summary of what happened in the Supreme Court yesterday, for anyone who is catching up in order to follow today.

Probably more detailed than what you'll read in the papers, but hopefully more accessible than listening to 5 hours of submissions.
1/
Lord Pannick QC, for the challengers in England, made 3 main points.

First: the PM prorogued for 5 weeks in order to avoid parliamentary opposition to his policies.
2/
To support this, Lord Pannick said
- look at the PM's quotes (eg below)
- if the prorogation was just for a new Queen's Speech, as the PM claims, why was it so long?
- also, if the prorogation was just for a new QS, why didn't the PM want to make a witness statement saying so?
3/
Read 22 tweets
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Raphael Hogarth
@Raphael_Hogarth
And we're off. Lady Hale says that the judges will consider the issue of prorogation in line with their oaths: without fear or favour, affection or ill will. She notes that the question is not whether or when the UK will leave the European Union.
Lord Pannick kicks off for Gina Miller, the claimant who challenged the Government's prorogation in the courts of England and Wales. He says he will make submissions on three matters:
Pannick point 1/3: PM advised HMQ to prorogue Parliament for 5w because he wished to avoid what he saw as the risk that Parliament would frustrate his policies.
Read 40 tweets
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Raphael Hogarth
@Raphael_Hogarth
This is a thread summarising what the prorogation case at the Supreme Court tomorrow is all about, explaining how we have got here, and drawing together some of the commentary on which side is right.
1/
On 28 August, the Prime Minister advised the Queen to prorogue (that is, suspend) Parliament from a date between 9 and 12 September until 14 October. The Queen made an order doing so. Parliament was prorogued on 10 September. It is still prorogued now.
2/
The Supreme Court will be hearing argument on whether it was lawful for the Prime Minister to advise the Queen to prorogue Parliament. It is deciding two cases on appeal: one from England and one from Scotland.
3/
Read 17 tweets

Related threads

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Dominic Casciani
@BBCDomC
Today we're starting with Sir James Eadie QC - the government's go-to-man in a tight spot. He's starting this morning on the government's strongest line of attack: Judges don't have the power to rule on the PM's power to prorogue Parliament.
Before I get to the arguments, we've already had a "which-bundle-of-papers-numbering-fumble" at six minutes. That's got to be a legal record of sorts.
Rather boringly I will be serious now. Sir James Eadie QC is taking the court through what the law says on the "justiciability" of the case - which means whether there is even a law that the PM can be said to have broken.
Read 38 tweets
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Steve Parks
@steveparks
As the Supreme Court considers vital questions to protect our parliamentary democracy, I found a tearful woman at the feet of Sir Winston Churchill...
#Prorogation #ProrogationCase
This statue of one of Britain’s most famous parliamentarians and Prime Ministers stands in his old constituency, Woodford, on the edge of the green. It’s still well-respected by local people
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodford_…
As I drove past saw the flicker of a flame in the evening light. I pulled over and walked across the green.
A woman stood by candles she had lit at Churchill’s feet, paying her respects, and she was a little tearful. She introduced herself as Isis...
Read 17 tweets
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James Cook
@BBCJamesCook
THREAD I have been wading through the full judgment from Scotland's highest civil court, the Court of Session, on the prorogation of parliament this evening (with assistance, as you can see). Here are some points I think are interesting. #Prorogation #TheNine
First, what is this all about? A group of parliamentarians led by @joannaccherry of the SNP wanted to stop the prorogation (suspension) of parliament, which has now taken effect, arguing that it was unlawfully designed to stymie parliamentary debate on Brexit.
As it happened the High Court in London has rejected a similar case but one argument made by the petitioners in Edinburgh (that is, Ms Cherry and co) was that Scotland (which has its own legal system pre-dating the 1707 union with England) had different law in this matter.
Read 32 tweets
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Anna Ellis
@annaellis_net
Gotta love the times we live in. THREAD:

The case brought by Jo Maugham, Joanna Cherry et al has produced a surprise result at Scotland's Inner House court. Judges have deemed the PM's advice was unlawful. This is being celebrated by Remainers. 1/
Firstly, the summary being circulated *is not the actual judgement*. That gets issued on Friday 13 September (unlucky for who, we can only hazard a guess). What we have here is a press release, issued, no doubt, by Jo Maugham & his merry Parliamentarians. 2/
Next, this is obviously being appealed. The Supreme Court scheduled emergency hearing on Gina Miller's case, the NI case & this one together on 17 September. As the arguments of the plaintiffs are essentially the same, this is a sensible use of overstretched court resources. 3/
Read 14 tweets
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The Political Studies Association
@PolStudiesAssoc
Today's turning out to be an interesting day in British politics. What is #Prorogation and what does it mean for the weeks ahead? A thread of some info from around the web:
This morning, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a Queen's speech on 14 October in a letter to MPs, which you can read here:
scribd.com/document/42350…
Confused about all this talk of #Proroguing? @commonslibrary has you covered: researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefi…
Read 9 tweets
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Albert Fox Cahn
@CahnLawNY
(1) I wonder if American audiences fully grasp the enormity of what #BorisJohnson has done by asking the Queen to suspend #Parliament. This is way more extreme than if #Trump asked #MitchMcConnell to delay the Senate session to avoid an unpopular vote. cnn.com/europe/live-ne…
(2) To put this #ConstitutionalCrisis in perspective, you have to remember that the #UK's parliamentary supremacy vests far more power in their legislature than we've ever given to ours. Under the American system, the Constitution is supreme. Under the UK system, Parliament is.
(3) Things have gotten trickier in recent years as #Parliament delegated some power to other institutions: regional assemblies in #Scotland and #NorthernIreland, a Supreme Court (Lords use to be the highest court), and made other structural changes. see: talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2019/168-…
Read 8 tweets

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