UK government's Brexit plans in hands of Supreme Court
LONDON (AP) -- Britain's Supreme Court began hearing a landmark case Monday that will decide who has the power to trigger the UK's exit from the European Union—the government or Parliament.
The legal battle has major constitutional implications for the balance of power between the legislature and executive, and has inflamed Britain's already raw wound over how and whether to leave the EU.
The court's most senior justice, David Neuberger, opened the four-day hearing by condemning the "threats of serious violence and unpleasant abuse" directed at Gina Miller, one of the claimants trying to ensure Parliament gets a say.
Neuberger and 10 other justices at the country's top court must decide whether Prime Minister Theresa May's government can invoke Article 50 of the EU's key treaty, the trigger for two years of divorce talks, without the approval of lawmakers.
