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 Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Jack Straw formally announced today the “successful delivery” of the UK Supreme Court.  He said that

The delivery of the new UK Supreme Court to the people of Britain is a major milestone and one that will ensure greater access to and transparency of the highest court of appeal in the UK.

The swearing in of the Justices will take place tomorrow. There is as yet no public  announcement by either the Supreme Court or the Ministry of Justice as to when the opening ceremony will take place or who will be attending.

Our friends at ScotUSBlog reported in the summer, the US Supreme Court sittings in October have been rescheduled to allow a number of justices to attend the opening of the UK Court but no details of which justices were attending or when.

We have been informed that members of the public will be able to attend the swearing in ceremony but this seems difficult bearing in mind there is no announcement (and the sign outside the building suggests that it is closed until 5 October 2009).  We hope to be able to clarify the position shortly.

Our fellow legal blogger, Joshua Rozenberg, suggests that there will be a hearing tomorrow before three justices – an application for a “protective costs order” in the JFS appeal (see the Court of Appeal decision, here).  Although there is nothing on the Supreme Court website about such a hearing we believe that it will take place.  

We hope that the Court will start providing lists of such hearings as soon as possible.

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