Indeed, according to a strict reading of the constitution, the government would need a vote of confidence from the Majlis even to continue in office if the latest departures mean that more than half its members have been changed during Mr Ahmadinejad's first term.

BBC: Ahmadinejad riles powerful allies

In the other Florida case, Justice Antonin Scalia, the court's most vocal champion of a strict textual reading of the constitution, argued that Congress was wrong to regard damage to an ongoing business from the false advertising or unfair competition of a state agency as an unlawful deprivation of property barred by the 14th amendment.

ECONOMIST: The Supreme Court