Labour has condemned the government's silence after a number of national newspapers attacked the judges behind the high court's decision yesterday to allow parliamentary oversight on Article 50.
The Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, and The Sun made clear their disdain for the decision yesterday to confirm that parliament had a right to oversight on the move to trigger Article 50 and exit the European Union.
Richard Burgon, Labour’s shadow justice minister, labelled the newspapers' coverage "unacceptable" and called on Liz Truss, secretary of state for justice, to speak out against the "hysterical headlines".
Burgon said that although strong views on both sides of the referendum debate were to be expected, “judges in the high court are there to interpret the law regardless of their personal views and that it what they have done".
“Some of the headlines in today's newspapers personally attacking the judges who heard this case are unacceptable," he said in a statement to BuzzFeed News.
“As lord chancellor, Liz Truss should not stay silent. It is the lord chancellor's job to uphold the independence of British judges and she must speak out urgently against the hysterical headlines of some papers and these attacks on British justice."
BuzzFeed News has repeatedly contacted the Ministry of Justice but has not received a response.
Asked re: newspaper coverage attacking judges over Brexit, PM’s spokesperson says: “I don’t think the British judiciary is being undermined”
Human rights lawyers also condemned the front pages.
Angela Rafferty Q.C. vice chairman of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), which represents barristers practising in the UK, said "abusive attacks on judges performing their constitutional role are completely unacceptable".
"The rule of law has been maintained in our country for centuries and respect for it is the cornerstone of our freedoms and responsibilities," she told BuzzFeed News. "The recent ruling of the High court as to the role of parliament in the process of triggering Article 50 was a judgement based on parliamentary sovereignty and was not a political comment of any kind."
Although many might disagree with the ruling, she continued, that did not give cause for the extent of the attacks on the front pages. She said: "This vitriol and the personal nature of the attacks are beneath the standards we have set for ourselves when discussing the nation's future course."
The CBA also sent out a series of tweets lambasting the newspapers coverage.
A spokesperson from a major London-based human rights law firm declined to comment on the record, but pointed BuzzFeed News towards these lines from the United Nations Human Rights charter on the "Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers".
Governments shall ensure that lawyers ... are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference
Schona Jolly, a human rights lawyer, said the "screaming headlines" did not reflect the reality of the judgment. Contrary to what the front pages depicted, the decision "did not thwart the will of 17 million Brexit voters", she wrote in a widely shared piece for The Lawyer.
"Yesterday’s judgment protects our democracy, rather than betrays or undermines it," she said.
Other politicians weighed in on the government's silence. Anna Soubrey, Conservative MP for Broxtowe, called the Daily Mail's coverage "hysterical, dangerously inaccurate and bullying".
She continued: "The bullying tone & deliberately false reporting of yesterday's ruling on parliamentary sovereignty w[ith] some honourable exceptions is shocking."
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron also condemned the "hyperbolic" and "irresponsible" front pages.
"Personalised attack on our independent judiciary is a dangerous path to go down, unjustifiable, and cultivates a nasty, divisive discourse around this debate," he said in an emailed statement to BuzzFeed News.
“There can be no defence to plastering photographs of judges across the front pages of news stands like some depressive modern day version of a Wild West poster.
“People need to take a step back, think more carefully about the language they are using and let our judges do their job. There is an irony that the same newspapers that argued we would ‘take back control’ are now complaining that the British people will have their views represented through the British parliament.”
Online, many people – among them Brendan Cox, husband of Labour MP Jo Cox who was killed in June of this year – urged restraint.
Whatever our views on the court ruling I hope we can take a step back & debate it soberly. Inciting hatred has consequences.
Internationally the papers also did not go down well. This was the Czech secretary of state's assessment:
British press declares war on judges who dared to defend basic democratic principles. #Brexit #TotalMadness
BuzzFeed News has contacted the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, and The Sun for comment. The Sun declined to comment.