UK Supreme Court

Ahead of our appeal being heard in the UK Supreme Court on 26 – 27th November 2024 we are now able to publish our written submission to the court.



Written Case – For Women Scotland

Aidan O’Neill KC and Spencer Keen, Barrister
Submitted: 30 September 2024

Supplementary documents: Statement of Facts and Issues, Appendix to the Appeal

Decision under appeal: FWS v Scottish Ministers [2023] CSIH 37


Briefing: 2 page overview of the background and main legal arguments of our case

Written cases have now also been submitted to the court by the Scottish Ministers and the following four interveners:

  • Sex Matters (published here)
  • Scottish Lesbians/Lesbian Project/LGB Alliance (published here)
  • Equality and Human Rights Commission (refused to publish, see FOI response)
  • Amnesty International UK

We hope the Supreme Court will publish all submissions on its website in due course.


Our CrowdJustice fundraiser to cover the legal costs of this case is still open and we would very much appreciate your support.


Media:

09 November 2024, Michael Foran: UK Supreme Court to decide “what is a woman?”

07 November 2024, Legal Feminist: Discrimination law and the experimental method

06 November 2024, Legal Feminist: Sex, peanuts and statutory interpretation

06 November 2024, Double Jeopardy podcast: discussing the UK Supreme Court case with Karon Monaghan KC

04 November 2024, Scottish Legal News: Scottish Lesbians publish written submission ahead of For Women Scotland’s Supreme Court case

22 October 2024, Scottish Legal News: For Women Scotland publishes Equality Act arguments ahead of landmark Supreme Court case

20 October 2024, BlackBeltBarrister on Youtube: UK Supreme Court to decide if Equality Act means Biological Sex

19 October 2024, Michael Foran: For Women Scotland and Female-only services

17 October 2024, Michael Foran: For Women Scotland and “Pregnant Men”

12 October 2024, Michael Foran: For Women Scotland and “Legal Lesbians”

11 October 2024, The Times: Will Labour show it’s learnt a biology lesson?

11 October 2024, Scottish Legal News: Scottish Lesbians to intervene in For Women Scotland’s Supreme Court appeal

09 October 2024, Michael Foran: For Women Scotland and Lesbian Associations

09 October 2024, Labour Heartlands: Gender and the Law: The Vitruvian Woman on Trial

08 October 2024, The Herald: Amnesty joins landmark Supreme Court case on definition of woman

17 June 2024, Michael Foran: Sex in the Supreme Court

28 March 2024, Michael Foran, Law Quarterly Review: Defining Sex in Law

18 February 2024, Daily Mail: JK Rowling donates £70,000 to Scottish feminist campaigners to help their Supreme Court appeal against the definition of ‘woman’

18 February 2024, The Telegraph: JK Rowling donates £70k to challenge ruling that men can become women

17 February 2024, The Times: JK Rowling donates £70k for legal challenge on defining a woman

16 February 2024, The Herald: Supreme Court to hear appeal over definition of ‘woman’

16 February 2024, The National: Scottish row over definition of ‘woman’ to head to Supreme Court

16 February 2024 The Times: Supreme Court to rule on legal definition of ‘woman’ in Scotland