What is in the Judicial reform bills being voted for on Monday? - Michael Starr

 

by Michael Starr

The new law would restrict the High Court from accepting petitions, reviewing, articles pertaining to the Basic Laws. They will not be able to address the validity of a Basic Law.

 

MK Benny Gantz is seen sitting at a chaotic session of the Knesset Law and Constitution Committee in Jerusalem during a debate on judicial reform, on February 13, 2023.

(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Two judicial reform bills will reach the Knesset plenum on Monday, on the judge selection committee and judicial review pertaining to Basic Laws.

Both items are committee bills, sent to the Knesset after 9-7 votes in the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee last Monday.

Intended changes

The bills are also both amendments to pre-existing laws. The first will amend the Basic Law: Judiciary, and a companion bill will alter the Courts Law, which sets the regulations for Israeli courts.

The main focus of the drafts will see the Knesset discuss changing the judge selection committee's composition.

The current judge selection committee has the justice minister as the panel's chairman, another cabinet minister, two members of the Israel Bar Association, the High Court of Justice President and two other High Court justices who are changed every three years. Two Knesset members are also on the panel, by tradition one from the ruling coalition and one member of the opposition.

Tens of thousands gather by the Knesset to protest against the judicial reform (credit: BLACK FLAGS MOVEMENT)

The proposed committee would remove the two Bar representatives, to be replaced with another cabinet minister and the chairman of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

Other restrictions would be applied to the panel seats. The judges on the committee would have to be retired, and selected through agreement between the justice minister and High Court president. The tradition of an opposition member of Knesset being appointed to the panel would be codified. The opposition factions will select the MK, in a manner that will later be established in Knesset statutes. The bill also contains gender quotas, requiring at least one the judges, one of the Knesset members, and one of the ministers to be women.

In addition to the composition of the committee, the legal quorum for committee meetings will be changed from seven members to five. The panel, which votes for judges through majority opinion, will also no longer count abstentions against the majority.

The bills will also add restrictions on judicial review of Basic Laws.

Judicial review is when a court strikes down legislation that it determines is in contradiction with a constitution on law with legal supremacy.

Israel lacks a formal written constitution, but follows quasi-constitutional Basic Laws. The High Court normally does not interfere with the Basic Laws, but will hear petitions challenging an untoward process in which a Basic Laws amendment or bill was legislated, or other abuses of the Knesset's constitutive authority.

The new law would restrict the High Court from accepting petitions, let alone reviewing, articles pertaining to the Basic Laws. They will not be able to address the validity of a Basic Law, directly or indirectly.

Another bill, currently in discussion in the law committee, would further restrict the use of judicial review to a full bench of justices in unanimous agreement. 

Michael Starr

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-732146

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