Lord Sumption

In an essay for Prospect magazine, the former justice of the UK Supreme Court mounts an unprecedented attack on its US counterpart, highlighting in particular its ruling in Trump v United States.

The judgment, in which the court ruled by 6-3 that former presidents enjoy a degree of immunity from criminal prosecution, is “the most recent and extreme symptom of a profound constitutional disorder in the affairs of the United States”, Lord Sumption said.

He added: “The country’s constitution is the oldest written one in the world, but it is a fair weather instrument. The United States is fortunate in having enjoyed a great deal of fair weather in the course of its history. But that may now be coming to an end.”

The essay also highlights that there is “no democratic way to undo” constitutional rulings of the Supreme Court, which “determine what the Constitution means until the crack of doom, because the Constitution is practically incapable of amendment”.

This is “a problem almost unique among the world’s constitutions”, he said.

The former justice went on to say that proposals for reform from current President Joe Biden are “at once essential and impossible” as the Democratic Party would need “an electoral landslide for it to have any chance of getting through Congress”.

He concluded: “The United States has never stood in greater need of impartial constitutional arbiters in its highest court, and has never been further from getting them.”