Ongoing coalition negotiations between the various political parties and Likud officials address many demands. On that list is a bill that seeks to curb the authority of the Supreme Court, which a growing number of Members of Knesset feel continues to overstep its authority. Labor party leader MK Yitzchak Herzog is angered over the bill, accusing Likud of being afraid of the nation’s judicial system. Herzog released several harsh statements opposing Likud’s bill, which he feels undermines the nation’s democratic process.
Likud MK Miri Regev, who heads the Knesset Interior Committee responded to Herzog. She explains that with all due respect for the court and the judicial system, elected officials are chosen to make the difficult decisions and not to become puppets for to carry out the word of legal advisors. Likud is pushing legislation to limit the High Court’s ability to interfere in the legislative process.
Herzog feels the justices are not to be held hostage by the lawmakers and it is unconscionable to attempt to limit their authority.
The bill addresses the ongoing battle between Knesset and the Supreme Court. Often a law passed in Knesset that some find objectionable will find itself on the Supreme Court docket. At times, the court will disqualify a law, which may lead to new legislation to circumvent a Supreme Court ruling. The bill seeks to bring a halt to the cat-and-mouse game by curtailing the Supreme Court’s authority vis-à-vis overturning or disqualifying Knesset decisions.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
1. If the court was ruling in favor of the religious and nationalists, they would have no objections. The Israeli left has lost control over the whole of the political system, so they rely on their control of the courts.
2. Since the Israelis unwisely set up a system under which judges largely pick new judges, of course it reflects those who were socially dominant 60 years ago, and ignores subsequent changes in demographics (growth of hareidim, immigration and growth of non-Ashkenazim).
3. All it takes to overrule the Supreme Court is a “Basic law” which isn’t all that hard to do if a majority of the Knesset supports it.
The system was set up by the Left to maintain control. It’s hard to break but must be done.
So many “Laws” in the U.S. are the result of Leftist Judges legislating from the Bench too, such as wholesale abortions and fair housing laws that allow criminals to live in group homes in the communities, just not where the Judges live.
This is nothing new.