A High Court judge in Northern Ireland has suspended an order from a unionist minister to end port checks required under the UK–EU agreement on post-Brexit trade. Northern Ireland’s Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots, a member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), issued a unilateral direction on Feb. 2, instructing his officials to stop the agri-food checks on goods arriving from mainland Britain. This was part of the DUP’s escalating protest strategy against the Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit treaty, which has created economic barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness said on Feb. 3 that the decision is an “absolute breach of international law.” The port checks have been continuing, as civil servants have not implemented the minister’s instruction, pending legal clarity on their obligations. Justice Colton, a High Court judge in Belfast, said on Feb. 4 that he had issued an …