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

Clearing Ukraine’s mines is crucial for global food security, say Howard Buffett and Tony Blair

With the right sort of technology and financing, it needn’t take a century

Mario Draghi outlines his plan to make Europe more competitive

The continent needs investment on a par with the Marshall Plan and a lot more innovation, says the former central banker


Large language models will upend human rituals

The results could be disturbing, argue Marion Fourcade and Henry Farrell


Kamala Harris has good vibes. Time for some good policies

Steven Teles, a political scientist, on the three Ps that the Democratic nominee should focus on

Break the taboos propping up unsustainable debt, pleads a former central banker

Murtaza Syed on overcoming fear of restructuring, cajoling creditors and encouraging the IMF to be candid

Mark Zuckerberg and Daniel Ek on why Europe should embrace open-source AI

It risks falling behind because of incoherent and complex regulation, say the two tech CEOs