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| Alan Dershowitz with a Justice Minister he could appreciate Tzipi Livni |
Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s reform, which he announced last Thursday and threw about 40% of Israelis (give or take) into a panic, is now being broken down into detailed moves that, little by little, are designed to rearrange the powers of the Supreme Court, Amit Segal reported Sunday night on News 12.
Needless to say, Supreme Court President Esther Hayut is unhappy. And Prof. Alan Dershowitz, that great defender of Israel, is also irate. More on that after we do the numbers.
Let’s start with the most explosive item, for now, the selection of new judges:
- The committee for selecting judges will be increased from nine to 11 members
- It will have 3 ministers––one more than today, 2 coalition MKs, one opposition MK, 3 judges, and 2 representatives of the public, appointed by the government
- There will be no representation for the Lawyers’ guild
- The MKs will be the chairs of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committees (coalition), and the State Audit Committee (opposition)
Do the math: appointing a new justice of the Supreme Court will require 7 votes – exactly the number of votes controlled by the government: 5 elected officials and 2 government-picked representatives of the public.
The new process effectively removes the justices’ virtual veto power they enjoyed with the support of the lawyers’ association. It means the government should be able to choose its candidates – assuming that the public representatives would play along.
As Israel’s demographics continue to favor the right, it stands to reason that even within the current Netanyahu government the balance between activist- and conservative justices could be restored, and, come the next term, the court would be majority-conservative.
On its face, at least. Because Supreme Court judges are not one-dimensional individuals and could surprise us every once in a while.
