Scottish Court Refers Brexit Question to Court of Justice of the European Union (September 21, 2018) [1]
On September 21, 2018, the highest court in Scotland, the Court of Session, ruled [3] in Wightman MSP and others v. Secretary of State for Exiting the EU that a judicial review question about whether the U.K.’s notice to leave the EU can be unilaterally revoked before the March 29, 2019, deadline, rather than be approved by all EU member states, should be answered by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The Court decided that the question was not hypothetical or premature because U.K. members of parliament must ratify any agreement between the U.K. and the EU Council, and the Court found that it did not infringe on the boundaries of parliamentary privilege. The Court agreed to refer the case to the CJEU for a preliminary hearing, asking, “Where a Member State has notified the European Council of its intention to withdraw from the European Union, does EU law permit that notice to be revoked unilaterally by the notifying Member State; and, if so, subject to what conditions and with what effect relative to the Member State remaining within the EU?”