Lady Hale announces the UK Supreme Court will sit in Belfast in 2018

On Monday 27 November 2017, President of the UK Supreme Court Lady Hale announces that the UK Supreme Court will sit in Northern Ireland next year. The Court will sit in the Inns of Court Library at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, where Lady Hale will be joined by Deputy President Lord Mance, Lord Kerr (former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland), Lord Hodge and Lady Black for up to four days of hearings, commencing on Monday 30 April 2018. One of the cases being heard in Belfast will be Lee v Ashers Baking Company Ltd, in which the Justices will hear arguments on whether a bakery directly discriminated against a customer on the grounds of sexual orientation when the bakery said they could not fulfil an order for a cake with “Support Gay Marriage” written on it because of their religious beliefs. The Court will also hear a case on whether a policy on allowances for widowed parents breaches human rights laws.