Israel's highest court protects its power to curb government extremism − 3 essential reads
That reform would have taken away from the Supreme Court the ability to review and limit the government’s actions.
- That reform would have taken away from the Supreme Court the ability to review and limit the government’s actions.
- Netanyahu and his cabinet – the most religious and politically conservative in Israel’s history – claimed the court had become too powerful, vetoing government policies.
- Opponents of the legislation said it was an attack on democracy, aimed at neutering the judicial system so that government had nearly unfettered power.
1. Unchecked majority power
- “The courts are the only institution that can check the power of the ruling parties and uphold the country’s Basic Laws, which provide rights in the absence of a formal constitution.
- But the new government wants to erase this separation of power and explicitly aims at weakening the courts.
2. Perception isn’t reality
- He said that there was a perception that the Supreme Court had overstepped boundaries.
- So the perception, particularly by those on the right, that this is an activist court, that it has been too active, is reasonable.”
- But, Waxman said, “This perception among the right that the court has really restrained Israeli governments isn’t actually accurate.
- I think many people would accept that there could be an argument for some kind of judicial reform, at least passing a law to clarify the role and powers of the Supreme Court.
3. Secular power vs. settlers and the Orthodox
- “This reform appeals to important sectors of Netanyahu’s supporters who see the Supreme Court’s power as an inappropriate secular check on Israel’s increasingly pro-settler and pro-Orthodox government,” Mednicoff wrote.
- He did this in part by allying himself increasingly with the country’s settler population, many of them Orthodox Jews.
- “Today’s Israel is marked by growing splits between secular, urbanized citizens near the Mediterranean coast and Orthodox and other settlers in or near the West Bank.