Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s Reform Part 1

Following are three parts in articles about the furor over Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s Correcting the injustice of the justices sitting on the Supreme Court

 'Democracy is in danger when we vote in the ballot box but each time unelected people decide for us'

Israel's new justice minister on Wednesday announced a reform program including a "derogation clause” – allowing parliamentary members a vote to override decisions of the Supreme Court.

After the November elections, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power last week, heading what analysts call the most right-wing government in the country's history, including plans to reform the judicial system.

Newly sworn-in Justice Minister Yariv Levin presented to the media his proposed reforms that, if parliament adopts them, would boost the power of elected officials over the courts.

"There are judges, but there is also a parliament and a government," Levin said. "Democracy is in danger when we vote in the ballot box but each time unelected people decide for us.”

Levin claims that some Supreme Court judges are beholden to the extreme left.

The key reform proposed would allow parliament to annul a decision of the Supreme Court with a simple majority vote. In Israel, which does not have a constitution, the Supreme Court currently has the authority to repeal laws it considers discriminatory.

But some within the new government say the judiciary has accumulated too much authority, and seek to implement a "derogation clause” – allowing parliament to reinstate laws overturned by the courts.

"A law passed by parliament can no longer be struck down by a judge," Levin said. "It is up to the elected government to decide the laws.”

Opposition leader Yair Lapid denounced the reforms, saying on Twitter that it "endangers the entire legal system of the State of Israel.” 

But Levin has said he wants "to put an end to the election of the judges by their colleagues,” proposing to hand more power to the members of parliament in making the choice. In other words, he wants to make Israel more democratic and restore the public trust in its legal system. 

There are some arguments for some reforms to be made to Israel’s legal system and balancing the different branches of its government. For example, the Israeli legal system has some powers that legal systems elsewhere, like in the United States, don’t have.

The real controversy is the override clause. If 61 out of the 120 members of Israel’s parliament can override the Supreme Court, it essentially neuters the court. One caveat that Levin noted to the media is that if the court unanimously nullifies a law, the same parliament that passed the law cannot override it. 

Netanyahu also feels he can navigate all of this in the normal course because he might believe he would be able to find some lawmakers in his Likud bloc who would vote to not override the court if it would lead to an egregious violation of human rights. 

But that’s only a small comfort for opponents of the law, who are concerned that this clause would put Israel centimeters from the cliff, and put the country in a position where if there was a crisis, Netanyahu wouldn’t be able to muster up lawmakers to not override, leading to strange results.

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/politics/1672867118-israel-s-justice-minister-levin-presents-controversial-court-reforms