Israel’s Attorney General Files Argument to Overturn Judicial Reform

Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara filed a brief Sunday at Israel’s Supreme Court against her own government, saying it should overturn a quasi-constitutional Basic Law for the first time in the country’s history.

That Basic Law is the one that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition passed in July, barring courts from overturning laws or government policies on the basis of their supposed “reasonableness.”

Israel, like the United Kingdom, does not have a written constitution. Its government has relied on a set of Basic Laws, which then-Chief Justice Aharon Barak declared in his 1995 “judicial revolution” were like a constitution.

As Caroline Glick explains at the Jewish News Syndicate, Barak claimed that Israel’s Declaration of Independence established the country’s democratic values, and claimed the Supreme Court could overturn laws and Basic Laws.

Baharav-Miara, who was appointed by the predecessor of Netanyahu’s government, reportedly follows that line of argument in her filing.

According to Israel National News, she claims that ending the “reasonableness” standard will harm those individuals or groups who are subjected to “extremely unreasonable” treatment, though such treatment is presumably also banned under other laws.

Netanyahu has rejected the idea that the Supreme Court can overturn Basic Laws — from which it claims to draw its own authority — meaning that if the Court does so, it will cause a constitutional crisis, leaving Israel uncertain as to whether the judiciary or the legislature is correct.

The hearing at the Court is scheduled for Tuesday, September 12, and there will be major protests on both sides of the issue beforehand.

Baharav-Miara has also petitioned to nullify another Basic Law that Netanyahu’s government has passed — namely, one that prevents the court from removing a prime minister for incapacitation, leaving that decision to supermajorities of the government and of the Knesset, Israel’s fractious 120-seat legislative body.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.