The Supreme Court and society

An open house

People are welcome to register as a visitor to attend a public hearing or decision. Sometimes the Supreme Court offers the possibility of following a hearing via a livestream. In 2025, this was the case with the Civil Division's decision in the case concerning the delivery of F 35 parts to Israel.

Pupils, students at colleges, universities and vocational schools, lawyers and other groups can visit the Supreme Court on appointment, which happens regularly. The purpose of the visits is to provide insight into our work and generate interest in the work of the Supreme Court and the Procurator General's Office at the Supreme Court. In cooperation with the Prinsjesfestival, the Supreme Court welcomed 300 senior secondary vocational education students from across the country on the State Opening of Parliament. For higher professional education and university education students, the 2025 visits are concentrated in two afternoons, one in spring and one in autumn.

Social studies teachers visit the Supreme Court every year on the Social Studies Teachers' Day organised by ProDemos.

Every year, the Supreme Court organises an open day on a Saturday. On that day, there is a day programme in both courtrooms, during which the public can engage in conversation with Advocates General, Justices, the Procurator General at and the President of the Supreme Court. Since 2023, the parties participating in the Week of the Rule of Law [Week van de Rechtsstaat] have jointly organised their open days with a guided tour [Rondje Rechtsstaat]. To make the connection between 'rule of law' and 'democracy' even more visible, the 2025 Week of the Rule of Law has been moved to the week before the State Opening of Parliament. 665 visitors found their way to the Supreme Court.

During the Week of the Rule of Law, the Supreme Court organised a symposium open to all on the topic "What do human rights mean to you?" to mark the 75th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights. Guest speakers were Jolien Schukking, the Dutch judge at the European Court of Human Rights, and Nexhmi Rexhepi, President of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo. He recounted from his own experience what it was like growing up in an environment where human rights were not respected at the time. The Procurator General and some members of the Procurator General's Office and the Research Department gave a musical performance at a library in The Hague, providing visitors with information on the place of the Supreme Court and the Procurator General in our state under the rule of law. The President delivered a lecture at another library.

Lastly, the Supreme Court receives many foreign visitors. Delegations of judges and members of foreign prosecutors' offices meet with their counterparts in the Netherlands to learn from each other and exchange ideas and experiences. For example, in 2025, delegations from the Procurator General's Office at the French Cour de Cassation, from the Cour de Cassation itself, from the Procurator General's Office of the Belgian Court of Cassation and from the Supreme Court of Slovenia visited us.

Outside it’s own doors, the President delivered a lecture at the annual National Commemoration at the Oranjehotel. Among other things, she addressed the Supreme Court's role in World War II. The Supreme Court had its President at the time, Mr Visser, dismissed by the German occupier without protest, and gave the ordinances of the occupier the force of law. "These actions by the Supreme Court during the war were far removed from the justice that citizens of the Netherlands expected from the Supreme Court", said Dineke de Groot in this speech.

Contact with other judicial authorities

As a court of cassation, the Supreme Court can assess in cassation proceedings whether an authority in a previous instance correctly applied the law, gave adequate reasons for the judgment and followed the correct procedure. A judgment of the Supreme Court shows the results of that assessment and is thus also a means by which the Supreme Court performs its core task. If there is ambiguity within the case law in fact-finding instances as to how a rule of law must be interpreted and applied, the Supreme Court can provide clarity by using a specific case to clarify that interpretation and application. The preliminary ruling proceedings allows judges in fact-finding instances to request the Supreme Court to do so already in a pending case. The Supreme Court considers it important that its judgments find their way into legal practice and, for that reason too, maintains contacts with the courts in fact-finding instances. This does not apply to pending cases. The main focus is the exchange of more general information and sharing of experiences, with the aim of ensuring the quality of the administration of justice.

The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body, both for the Netherlands (in Europe) and for the overseas territories of the Kingdom of the Netherlands: Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. The Supreme Court maintains various contacts with the courts in these territories. Every year, for example, the President of the Supreme Court or the Procurator General at the Supreme Court pay a working visit to the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. During this visit, information and experiences are exchanged on the administration of justice in society. The President paid a working visit in 2025.

In the Netherlands, as in the countries around us, European law and international treaties are increasingly working their way into the national legal order. The Supreme Court is in contact with the highest courts in other countries inside and outside the European Union. This provides an opportunity to share experiences on the application of European and international law and to have a dialogue on current social issues that play a role in the administration of justice. The President participates in international networks in the judiciary, such as the Network of Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union and the Conference of European Constitutional Courts (CEEC). On 13 and 14 November, the Supreme Court hosted the Network of Presidents of the European Union for a colloquium, in which the Presidents of the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom also participated. Furthermore, the President and a justice participated in the World Conference on Constitutional Justice (WCCJ) in Madrid.

The Procurator General at the Supreme Court also participates in consultations in a European context, for example in the context of the NADAL network of Procurators General at the highest courts.

Members of the Supreme Court and the Procurator General's Office pay visits to foreign judicial authorities on a regular basis. A working visit was made to the Mahkamah Agung (Supreme Court) of Indonesia and the Supreme Court of Albania in 2025, and conferences in Münster, Vilnius, Sofia and Riga were visited.

The cooperation with the judiciary in Suriname was intensified in 2025 with several working visits by Justices and Advocates General.

Social media and news service

The Supreme Court uses LinkedIn and Instagram. It uses these platforms for different purposes and audiences: LinkedIn for news about cases and personnel matters, Instagram for public information about events and student visits. On both platforms, the number of followers grew in 2025.

The Supreme Court's reach has been further extended since the introduction of a news service in 2024. Media and other interested parties can subscribe to a digital newsletter of the Supreme Court free of charge, where they can indicate the categories they wish to receive news from. They will automatically receive an e-mail notification as soon as a news item in the relevant category is posted on the Supreme Court's website. In this way, professional media, regional media and national media can be given specific notifications.

In 2025, the Supreme Court published more than 100 news items in cases. In addition, legal alert messages are posted on LinkedIn. These alerts are linked to cases involving matters that are important from a legal perspective. Whereas the news items are aimed more at the media and the general public, these legal alerts are mainly intended for audiences of a legal nature, including law students.

Publication of old judgments

For several years now, the Supreme Court has been publishing old judgments and, if available, the accompanying advisory opinions from before the year 2000 online (free of charge). And in 2025 the Supreme Court continued this effort. In 2025, a total of 156 old judgments were published on rechtspraak.nl. For the first time, the Supreme Court also received a request to publish old judgments that, on closer inspection, turned out not to exist: the petitioner had been 'fooled by AI'.