After weeks of angry demonstrations every Saturday night and threats of strikes against the “fascistic” legislation to reform the Judicial Selection Committee, on Tuesday, MK Simcha Rothman, Chair of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, published his bill, titled, Basic Law: The Judiciary (Amendment No. 3, Strengthening the Separation of Branches of Government).
Here’s a glance at portions of the bill scheduled to be submitted to the plenum for the first reading next Monday:
Amendment to clause 4 of Basic Law: The Judiciary. In clause 4 Subsection (B) is replaced by the following:
The committee will have nine members, who will be:
(a) The President of the Supreme Court, as well as two retired judges to be appointed by the Justice Minister, with the approval of the Supreme Court President
(b) The Justice Minister and two other ministers are chosen by the government
(c) Three Knesset Members including the Chair of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, and two MKs, one from the coalition and one from the opposition, as will be determined by the law
The Justice Minister will chair the committee.
Rothman also snuck in a clause that has nothing to do with the protocol of appointing judges but is significantly more important than the majority of the bill.
Judicial Review Regarding the validity of a Basic Law:
15a. Whoever has judicial authority according to law, including the Supreme Court, is not required, directly or indirectly, to rule about the validity of a Basic Law and there will not be any validity to a ruling made in the aforementioned matter. It means that should the Knesset decide to upgrade legislation to the level of a Basic Law, the court does not have the power to overrule, revoke, annul, or cancel it.
It’s clear that judicial reforms are well underway to becoming a reality and nothing can stop what is coming. It’s all good for Israel.