Parliament has acquired real teeth. It has taken the highest court in the land to make this clear. Parliament 1: The Executive 0. To carry on the sporting metaphors, it’s a slam dunk for Parliament. And Parliament must now rise to the occasion.

The fundamental question was whether the Prime Minister acted unlawfully in advising (in practice telling) the Queen to prorogue (suspend) parliament for five weeks at the most constitutionally challenging times in our nation’s recent history. A unanimous and full court of eleven justices said a resounding and emphatic yes.

They argued as follows. First, they said this matter was justiciable. This means that the courts have the right to rule on the case, as the Scottish Court had ruled. The High Court of England and Wales in the Miller case had said the opposite – because this case concerned high politics and policy, there was no right for the Court to intervene. But the Supreme Court said courts have exercised a ‘supervisory jurisdiction over the lawfulness of acts of the Government for centuries’. They continued this is one such case where the courts should exercise control since it is about the limits of the power to advise the Queen to prorogue parliament.