Israeli High Court Set To Overturn Controversial Judicial Overhaul Law, Leaked Report Says

Israel’s High Court of Justice is reportedly poised to overturn one of the key laws in the government’s highly controversial judicial overhaul package passed by the Knesset earlier this year, according to a leaked document obtained by Israel’s Channel 12 News.

If the report is accurate, the decision would mark the first time in Israel’s history that the judiciary strikes down an amendment to Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Laws.

The controversial law, passed by the Knesset in July, limits the courts from reviewing or ruling against government and ministerial decisions using the judicial standard of “reasonableness.” That standard had long allowed the High Court to annul government and ministerial decisions and appointments on the basis of lack of “reasonableness.”

The governing coalition pushed strongly for the reasonableness law, arguing that the courts had too much power to intervene in and undermine government decisions. Opponents of the law argued that the courts are an essential tool to review government decisions in a country that does not have an upper house of parliament or a written constitution. Despite months of large protests against it, the law was passed by the Knesset, where the coalition has a clear majority, with the opposition boycotting the vote.

According to the news report, the panel of 15 judges is set to vote 8-7 in favor of invalidating the law, with their votes split entirely along ideological lines, with the liberal judges in favor of annulling the law and conservatives in favor of retaining it.

The leaked report prompted immediate reactions across the Israeli political spectrum, with coalition members criticizing the expected judgment and saying it undermines the national unity needed during the current war with Hamas, and with those in favor of nullifying the law claiming the leak is an attempt to intimidate the judges into changing their decision.

Israel’s Judicial Authority issued a statement condemning the leak and stating that the draft of the judgment was still incomplete.

“We view unauthorized leaks with great severity and will not comment on it. The ruling will be published after writing it has been completed,” the statement said.