If we think that things are looking ugly and depressing in post-election United States, things are not much better in post-Brexit Britain.
In particular, the reaction to one woman's legal challenge to Brexit is sobering indeed. Lawyer and investment specialist Gina Miller is challenging Prime Minister Theresa May's belief that she can personally trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty (which is what is needed to actually make Britain's exit from the European Union happen) just by sending a letter to EU headquarters in Brussels. Ms. Miller is arguing that Ms. May needs approval from the British Parliament, which may not be as simple as it sounds given that a majority of parliamentarians of all parties were opposed to Brexit, whatever the results of the public referendum. Such a requirement could at the very least delay the implementation of Brexit, and theoretically could even completely derail it, leaving the country in a kind of legal limbo, although that is less likely. And it looks like she may have a case: she has already won her case in a lower court, and Britain's Supreme Court will issue their ruling on it later today.
In bringing the case, though, Ms. Miller has made herself very unpopular with many people. She found it difficult enough to interest any of London's top law firms in taking on the case, and ended up using a small firm called Mishcon de Reya in association with two other small firms. But, more importantly, Ms. Millers participation in the case has unleashed a torrent of hostility, ranging from scorn in the news media to verbal abuse in public to racial taunts (she emigrated from Guyana as a child) and some pretty nasty online threats. These threats, by email, phone and mail, have included full-blown death threats and invitations to gang-rape her. She has had to de-list her phone number and address, and now has police officers guarding her home. Her investment company has had bread-and-butter deals unexpectedly fall through, and has been subject to cyber-attacks.
Throughout it all, Ms. Miller has refused to back down, and has continued to participate in debates and appear on television shows, sometimes with security guards in tow. The whole episode has, nevertheless, highlighted a very ugly side of British society, which many Brits will have great difficulty coming to terms with.
UPDATE
Well, the cat is well and truly among the pigeons, now that the Supreme Court has backed Ms. Miller's case (by a comfortable margin of 8 to 3) and ruled that Theresa May cannot begin talks with the EU until MPs and peers give their explicit backing. A draft bill is already in hand to do just that (the Supreme Court's ruling was not unexpected), as Brexiteers are anxious not to let their March 31st deadline slip. It looks like the major political parties are loath to vote against the will of the people in the June referendum, although Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP will insist that the bill receives due debate, and may want to make some significant amendments to it. In practice, it is very unlikely that Brexit will actually be blocked as a result of the ruling.
Some are calling the whole court case "chicanery"; others, though, claim it is all about process not politics, and represents a protection of democratic procedures. It has certainly served to remind everyone of just how split the country is over the whole issue. And whatever transpires, the experiences of Ms. Miller are surely inexcusable, and have cast a huge shadow over the country.
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