The president of the UK Supreme Court [official website] on Thursday defended the court’s ruling [judgment, PDF] that only Parliament can activate the Article 50 mechanism to leave the EU. Lord Neuberger [official profile], when asked if he felt that politicians were needlessly interfering with a political decision that the nation had made, said:

We were doing what our job requires us to do, which is taking a case … and dealing with it according to the law, and answering the issues that were presented to us according to the law.

Neuberger’s public response may have been prompted by media portrayal of the decision and the judges who made it.

Last week the House of Commons voted [JURIST report] 494-122 to give Prime Minister Theresa May [official profile] authority to formally begin the Brexit process. In January the Court ruled [JURIST report] 8-3 that Parliament must vote on whether to begin the process of leaving the EU. The case had been appealed from the UK High Court of Justice [official website], which also required [JURIST report] Parliamentary approval to leave the EU. British citizens voted to leave [JURIST report] the EU last June in a referendum.