The Woman Who Saved Israel's Fragile Democracy - for Now
Ex-Supreme Court President Esther Hayut did Israeli society a huge favor on Monday by presiding over the ruling to effectively kill off the government's judicial overhaul. But Israel remains as divided as ever, and will still be when the war ends
The High Court of Justice's ruling Monday to nullify the law passed by the governing coalition last July, which eliminated the reasonableness standard clause, extends to 738 pages of dense reasoning for and against the decision. It will be studied by legal experts and taught in courses on constitutional law for decades to come. But beyond the issues of jurisprudence, it has immediate political and social implications.
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The first and most important conclusion from the ruling is that the Netanyahu government's judicial overhaul is over. Just before the first anniversary of Justice Minister Yariv Levin's unveiling of his "legal reform" program last January 4, and after the most turbulent 362 days in Israel's history, the plot to eviscerate Israel's Supreme Court and hobble its democracy has failed.
This government will not have the power or the credibility with the public or most likely the time to try it again. That doesn't mean a future right-wing government won't make another attempt at weakening the judiciary, but it must be hoped that any future constitutional changes will be made in a more consensual manner.
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Hayut is now a target for condemnation from the right, and shamefully even some centrists not only for having led the ruling against the reasonableness clause (which gave the top court the power to disqualify certain executive branch decisions it deemed as unreasonable), but for having published the ruling at a time of war.
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Read the whole article in free link to Haaretz:
https://archive.is/SIdLU]
Thank You Esther Hayut and your 7 brave colleagues who stood up against Netanyahus attempt to thwart democracy.