Israel’s Judicial Tyranny Is Beginning to Unravel

Since the beginning of 2017, six new justices—out of a total of fifteen—have been appointed to Israel’s Supreme Court. The new appointees, according to Aharon Garber, stand poised to undo, even if gradually, the “judicial revolution” of the retired court president Aharon Barak, under whose auspices the court granted itself tremendous power to overturn laws and interfere in the minutiae of policy, as well as to create a self-perpetuating legal bureaucracy. Garber explains why there is reason to be hopeful:

A look at the resumes of the new Supreme Court justices shows that the cloning of judges identical to Aharon Barak and their complete dominance of [future] appointments [to the judiciary] is over. . . . I do not believe that all the judges will oppose Barak’s reforms or that the court will cease to intervene daily in the affairs of the executive branch. People expecting such a sharp change and counterrevolution will be disappointed. . . .

But there are positive indications that a growing number of justices on the new court will restrain themselves more than has been common in recent years, and that the track for Supreme Court appointments no longer exclusively goes through the chief justice’s office. . . .

A decade ago, a sharp reaction emerged against the judicial revolution, which led to an effort to restore balance to the government. Among other things, the rules governing judicial appointments were changed and the justices’ veto over the selection of [new] candidates to the Supreme Court was ended. . . .

Many rules remain that are worthy of being reconsidered. . . . Many believe [for example] that . . . elected representatives should be given preference in choosing judges to the Supreme Court.

A proposal was recently raised to limit the maximum term to fifteen years, and we should also reexamine how the selection committee operates. Is there a justification for the special course of study that judicial candidates must take? In its present form, the course allows the court’s administration to screen for candidates who do not fit their concealed criteria.

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