As unusual as it was, the court’s slap to the country’s head of state came as no surprise. Mr Sirisena has been testing the limits of his powers ever since October 26th.
On that day he pitched his country into uncharted constitutional waters, sacking the sitting prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, despite his command of a solid parliamentary majority, and appointing instead Mahinda Rajapaksa, a hugely controversial former president.