Royalist forces struck another blow against Thai democracy Wednesday when the country's Constitutional Court staged a judicial coup and removed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office. Her supposed crime: having impure motives when she transferred a bureaucrat three years ago. For the third time in a decade, this unaccountable institution controlled by the aristocracy has removed an elected leader for dubious reasons.
The justices' meddling rewards the bad behavior of the ironically named royalist Democrat Party. It boycotted the general election in February after several of its leaders led street protests aimed at overthrowing democracy and installing a ruling council made up of the country's elite.
In March, the Constitutional Court nullified the result of the election on the grounds that protesters prevented it from being held on the same day across the country. The opposition has blocked a revote, leaving the country in political limbo with a caretaker government. Now that the court has removed Ms. Yingluck and nine other ministers from office, Deputy Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan will soldier on. But the National Anti-Corruption Commission might remove him too.
The situation would be laughable if it weren't so dangerous. The conflict has emboldened extremists on both sides who threaten to start a civil war. That would pit rural parts of the country, particularly in the north, that support the populist Shinawatra family against the pro-royalist urban areas and the south.