Court throws out Silvio Berlusconi’s latest wheeze

SO IT did not work. On Wednesday October 7th Italy’s constitutional court threw out Silvio Berlusconi’s latest wheeze for putting himself above the law. The judges voted by a majority that an immunity law passed last year was unconstitutional. It would have shielded from prosecution not only the prime minister, but also the president and the speakers of both houses of parliament. The judges decided that such a step required a constitutional reform, not a mere law. An earlier immunity law had been rejected by the same court in 2004.