The UK’s highest court launches a Twitter account to broadcast its latest rulings

The highest court in the UK has launched a Twitter account and will begin tweeting news about its latest judgements imminently.

The @UKSupremeCourt account has yet to tweet, but the court’s Twitter ‘broadcast service’ will kick-off by tweeting live coverage of the new justice Lord Reed being sworn in at the Supreme Court later today.

It will tweet updates during the brief ceremony at the building in Parliament Square, London, to explain proceedings to those watching via a live Web stream. The ceremony start at 11.30am.

Back in December we reported that it was to be made easier for reporters to live-tweet from court rather than request permission on a case-by-case basis, but today will herald in a new era for the UK justice system as it will be the first time the Supreme Court itself has taken to the microblogging platform. Indeed, as for this particular milestone event, a spokesperson said: “The court understands it is the first Supreme Court in the world to do so.”

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange took his case to the Supreme Court last week to appeal against an earlier ruling at the Royal Courts of Justice stipulating that he will be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of rape.

The final verdict from this is expected in the next couple of months, and it could be the first high-profile case to receive coverage through the court’s new Twitter account. Indeed, the court’s spokesperson said that it was keen to get the channel up and running before the justices have prepared their final judgment in Assange’s appeal.