Tomorrow, the Federal Court will hear one of the most important constitutional appeals in recent times: Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin v Dr Zambry Abd Kadir. While many readers are familiar with the facts leading to this appeal, it is useful to recapitulate the key events.

The resignation of three Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen in February this year left the ruling government with control over 28 seats in the Perak Legislative Assembly, the same number of seats controlled by the opposition BN.

This led the incumbent Pakatan Menteri Besar Nizar to request Sultan Azlan Shah ( right ) on Feb 4 to dissolve the legislative assembly so that this numeric deadlock could be resolved. The sultan took no...