I start in one of the overspill courts, watching on a
screen.
Helen Mountfield QC (below), for the crowd-funded People's Challenge group, starts with an unnecessary apology: ‘To some the legal
arguments in the case may sound dry and antiquarian…’
No, for a non-lawyer
this is the good stuff: we get the Treaty of
Utrecht, the Seven Years’ War, Henry IV, Henry VIII (whose face is carved into an
oak bench in the courtroom), William III and George III.
She adds: ‘Mr Eadie’s submissions are the equivalent of
arguing that because none of the attempts to catch the Loch Ness monster succeeded,
the Loch Ness monster still roams free.’
As
a sacrifice to nerves, Mr Eadie starts with something baffling which depends on
knowing the form of a certain race-horse.
Manjit Gill QC speaks movingly on behalf of vulnerable
people, including British children and disabled people whose parents, guardians
or carers, aka bargaining chips, may lose their right to live in the UK.
At lunchtime a punter hands out Cadbury Heroes. Witnessing this superb exposition of legal process is poor consolation for the national shame of Brexit and its spiteful
aftermath.
In the afternoon I inherit a space in the courtroom. Terrible sightlines.
Time for the last submission before Mr Eadie returns for the government. Lord Neuberger: 'Final shake of the
kaleidoscope of the front bench. Mr Green.'
If I am to abandon remoaning, where can I
redirect my attention?
Il faut cultiver notre jardin. A no-borders cat has just left contemptuous paw
prints in our wet cement. Fuchsia bug mite ignores trade barriers and plant health checks: it reached
England from the US about ten years ago. My plants are riddled with
it. You can’t disengage from the single organism we belong to.
This is the second piece of EU referendum-related litigation to
reach the Supreme Court, and presumably not the last as this fiasco plays out over decades of decline. In May, the court upheld a ruling that British expats who'd
lived outside the UK for more than 15 years could not vote in the referendum. The
Conservatives didn’t get round to changing that in time.
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| Lord Neuberger - two of many seat positions |
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