On Tuesday, a top legal adviser to the European Union's highest court counseled that if Britain chooses, it can change its mind about Brexit without input from the other 27 EU member states. A multi-party group of Scottish lawmakers had requested guidance on that question from the EU's European Court of Justice, and Advocate General Manuel Campos Sanchez-Bordona handed down his non-binding legal opinion just as Britain's Parliament started five days of debate over whether to approve Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit proposal.
The ECJ often but not always concurs with the advice of the advocate general, and the full court is expected to hand down its judgment within weeks. The British government had opposed the Scottish appeal to the European Court, arguing that whether it can un-invoke the EU charter's Article 50 is a useless hypothetical question because "the U.K. does not intend to revoke its notification."
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