British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament for more than a month before Brexit is being challenged in three court cases that will be heard over the next month, reports Trend citing to Reuters.
Johnson announced on Wednesday that he will suspend the British parliament from mid-September to mid-October ahead of an Oct. 31 Brexit deadline, enraging his opponents and raising the stakes in the country’s deepest political crisis in decades.
Robert Blackburn, a professor of constitutional law at King’s College university in London, said the cases are likely to be combined and the Supreme Court could overturn the decision to suspend parliament.
“The legal challenges, if the courts accept the applications for judicial review as legitimate for trial, are certain to be combined and go all the way to the Supreme Court,” he said. “The Supreme Court could quash and/or declare unlawful” the order.
The government has said its actions are in line with the convention by which a new prime minister briefly suspends parliament before announcing a new legislative program.
SCOTTISH COURT
A group of about 70 lawmakers from opposition parties have backed a bid to have Scotland’s highest civil court rule that Johnson cannot suspend, parliament before Britain leaves the European Union on Oct. 31.
They launched their challenge before Queen Elizabeth agreed to the government’s request for a suspension.
The case was originally due to be heard next week, but an emergency hearing – seeking the suspension of the order - was granted after the government ordered parliament to be suspended.
The court on Friday rejected an request to place an interim block on Johnson’s order to suspend parliament but indicated it will hear full arguments next week.