Israel’s Supreme Court heard arguments this week against the first and most moderate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reforms.
If the Court tries to overturn the reform, it could set off a constitutional crisis, since Netanyahu’s government says, correctly, that there is no basis for the Court to reject changes to the country’s Basic Laws, the quasi-constitutional laws that define Israel’s government and from which the Court derives its authority.
Conversely, if the Court decides that it lacks explicit legal authority to overturn Basic Laws, then Israel will have. But it could open the door for Netanyahu’s government — or any government — to move beyond modest corrections and to make new, sweeping changes to the country’s basic structure, based on a simple majority vote in the Knesset.
The same could happen in Israel. The Supreme Court could reject the judicial reform, but suggest ways it could be changed to pass muster, thus asserting its power of judicial review over Basic Laws. The Knesset could make those changes, asserting its power to change Basic Laws. The judiciary’s powers could be limited by the reform, but at the same time, the Court would have defended judicial independence. A possible win-win, pulling Israel from the brink.on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET . He is the author of the new biography,