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Insurrection & court intervention Pt 3

19 July 2024 / Michael Zander KC
Issue: 8080 / Categories: Features , Profession , International , Public
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A disgraceful decision: Michael Zander KC on Trump v United States
  • The majority held that the president could not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers and was entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all other official acts.

The US Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on presidential immunity has raised serious alarm. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a powerful dissent joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, warned: ‘Under the majority’s rule, a President’s use of any official power for any purpose, even the most corrupt, is immune from prosecution.’ She ended: ‘With fear for our democracy, I dissent.’

The court said that the president was not above the law, but deprived that statement of most of its content both by the width of what it said was covered by immunity and by how it narrowed the path for a prosecutor.

The government argued that a president enjoyed no immunity whatever from criminal prosecution. Trump argued that just as a president had been held to enjoy absolute

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

mfg Solicitors—Brian Hession

mfg Solicitors—Brian Hession

Birmingham commercial property team bolstered by partner hire

STEP—Sara Morgan

STEP—Sara Morgan

Fieldfisher director re-elected as deputy chair of England Wales committee

Osborne Clarke—Andrew Eaton

Osborne Clarke—Andrew Eaton

Restructuring and insolvency expert joins as partner

NEWS
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
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