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Avigdor Liberman vs. The Supreme Court – Does He Stand a Chance?

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After allowing MK Zoabi to run, Yisrael Beytenu head wants to clip the Court’s wings; expert says he’s got his work cut out.

Avigdor Liberman is not the only member of the Knesset who was unhappy with the Supreme Court decision to reinstate Hanin Zoabi as a candidate in the election (not to broach the topic of Baruch Marzel), but he was the first to say in response that the next Knesset ought to legislate parameters for the Supreme Court in order to regulate their “disgrace to democracy” in overturning an Election Committee decision to disqualify Zoabi.

Many Israelis in the center and right of the political spectrum have said for years that the Israeli Supreme Court crosses the line when it comes to power. Moshe Koppel, Director of the Kohelet Policy Forum, has been a bilingual advocate for a renewed “balance of power” between the judicial branch – the courts – and the legislative branch – the Knesset.

Vice Director of Kohelet Policy Forum, Ran Bar-Yoshafat (who once worked in the Legal Department at the Knesset) considered the viability of Liberman’s idea.

“I can’t see the Legal Committee going for it. It would not be worth much because if you legislate anything the Supreme Court is able to disqualify it.”

The Supreme Court, as in places like the United States, has the power of judicial review. The Court’s Justices have the right to determine the constitutionality of legislation. In Israel’s case, some argue the Supreme Court has a much stronger ability to overturn government decisions, legislation included.

“Politics is not my field, but I can’t see it as a serious proposal.  It’s a bit naïve considering how difficult it would be to muster support” and, by extension, not have such legislation challenged.

Another approach is the more constitutional issues of how Supreme Court justices are appointed, or explicitly defining the limits of their jurisdiction.

On appointments, it’s important to note that the Supreme Court in Israel replaces itself, without any democratic oversight. Justices simply nominate their own replacements. The Knesset is not involved, far removed from a process akin to what is done in places like the US, where the President nominates the judges and the Senate votes on them.

“When people can decide, you can avoid something more tyrannical. The US way of doing things is not necessarily the best solution.”

“You have to remember, if the Knesset were responsible for appointments, you would see nominations determined in coalition deals. You might solve one problem, but you won’t always get the most qualified judges sitting on the Court.”

Bar-Yoshafat, who studied law at Hebrew University, still found it unfair that so many of the Court’s Justices came from that school, narrowing the legal perspectives that appeared on the court.

Still, he was hopeful that if the Supreme Court is indeed too powerful, a change to the Basic Law could pose a doable solution.

“We can legislate a Basic Law – which means we will have a broad consensus in Israel – a consensus that that the Supreme Court cannot simply overrule.” (INN)

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