The decision of the Supreme Court is remarkable for many reasons (R (on the application of Miller) v The Prime Minister; Cherry and ors v Advocate General for Scotland [2019] UKSC 41, [2019] All ER (D) 61 (Sep)). One is that it was produced in such a short time. Another, of immense importance, is that it is unanimous. A third is that it rejects the reasoning of the Divisional Court’s unanimous decision given by the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls and the President that the issue was not justiciable.
The two most important paragraphs of this historic judgment are perhaps these:
‘It is their [the courts] particular responsibility to determine the legal limits of the powers conferred on each branch of government and to decide whether any exercise of power has transgressed those limits. The courts cannot shirk that responsibility merely on the ground that the question raised is political in tone or context.’ ([39])
‘[A] decision to prorogue Parliament (or to advise the monarch to prorogue
