By Invitation | SCOTUS and presidential immunity

Justice Sotomayor was right for the wrong reasons

The Supreme Court’s ruling on prosecuting presidents is mistaken, says Eric Nelson, but not because the founding fathers were anti-monarchists

Illustration: Dan Williams

IN HER DISSENT in Trump v United States, Justice Sonia Sotomayor correctly observes that historical evidence from the early republic “cuts decisively against” the sweeping new doctrine of executive immunity adopted by the Supreme Court majority. But is this, as she goes on to claim, because the decision converts the president into “a king above the law”?

How to raise the world’s IQ

From the July 13th 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from By Invitation

Kamala Harris must define herself before Donald Trump does it for her

High on her list should be wooing older, less-educated white women, says Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster

Indermit Gill on what China and India must do to join the rich club

First invest, then infuse foreign technology and then innovate, says the World Bank’s chief economist


Use incentives, not brute force, on the cartels, says a political scientist

Benjamin Lessing reckons they can be peacefully coerced into reducing violence


Bangladesh has achieved its second liberation, says Muhammad Yunus

The interim government’s new leader argues for releasing political prisoners and holding a free election

Margaret Hodge’s lessons from east London on countering the far right

Mainstream parties must win back white working-class voters by focusing on local issues, says the former Labour MP

The real winner of Venezuela’s election urges the regime to face facts

A peaceful transfer of power is still possible, says Edmundo González