UK Supreme Court judge defends Brexit decision News
UK Supreme Court judge defends Brexit decision

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.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

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