above the law

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above the law

1. (idiomatic) Exempt from the laws that apply to everyone else.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, OCLC 1167497017:

     'The law,' she laughed with scorn - 'the law! Canst thou not understand, oh Holly, that I am above the law, and so shall my Kallikrates be also? All human law will be to us as the north wind to a mountain.'

   • 2022 August 26, “Donald Trump Is Not Above the Law”, in The New York Times‎, ISSN 0362-4331:

     If we hesitate to call those actions and their perpetrator criminal, then we are saying he is above the law and giving license to future presidents to do whatever they want.

   The emperor is above the law.

   You may think you're above the law, but you're not.

• law unto oneself