NEWS
What are the Proposed Reforms of the Israeli Legal System?
by Moshe Tzvi
No one was surprised by the reforms proposed by the new Minister of Justice, Yariv Levine, dealing with primary subjects relating to the legal system, and the boundaries of power of the Judicial Authority vis a vis the Knesset and the new government, which was installed very democratically by the national majority.
The first topic which Minister Levine proposed was changing the makeup of the committee for choosing judges. "The judges appoint themselves in their private chambers without any protocol," he said. "Instead, now two public representatives will be appointed by the Justice Minister instead of the sectorial representatives of the bar of attorneys. Everything will be above board through a public hearing in the Committee of Law and Constitution of the Knesset."
The Minister then related to the organization of abolishing laws and overcoming a judicial ruling by the Knesset. "No longer shall there be discussions in the court regarding constitutional laws. No longer will laws of the Knesset be invalidated without agreement. Instead, the court will act based on constitutional law and not be arbitrarily above all law. Annulment of law by the High Court will still be enabled but only with a full plenum of judges and an enhanced majority. A balanced law of Knesset overcoming a court ruling will be enacted, requiring a 61 MK majority vote. On the other hand, there will not be a Knesset overcoming in the event that the court unanimously disqualifies a law."
The third topic of the Minister's reform is eliminating the judicial implementation of the requirement of "reasonableness." Levine says, "No longer shall fully legally valid decisions of the government be invalidated by a pronouncement of lack of reasonableness in a judge's opinion. This will transfer the power of decision to the democratically chosen government. There is no such thing as reasonableness (sevirut)."
The last thing which Levine presented was the subject of legal advisors to the government (yo'etzim mishpatiim). He says, "No longer shall the government have to subject itself to an unelected officials. Legal advisors are no more than that. They advise but do not decide. When they represent the State, they must do exactly that and not be answerable to the government prosecutor. The former president of the High Court Moshe Landau, says about the role of the court: `Its job is much more modest, being to accurately define the law and the public will which the Knesset expresses.' "
The reactions of the political system to Levine's announcements were swift in coming. One, at least, according to the media, was somewhat premature. Head of the Opposition Yair Lapid recorded his sharp response to Levine's reforms even before it was presented to the public. "Not only will we fight in every way possible to each and every of the steps which Levine will announce this evening, but I declare in advance that we will abolish each one on the day that we return to power. One who initiates a one-sided revolt against law and order in Israel must be made aware that we do not accept it under any circumstances."
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