Law to Cancel the Reasonableness Standard

Vogelman: Reform ruling part of constitutional process, need last Basic Law

Acting Supreme Court president Uzi Vogelman called to permanently fill the top justice position.

|ByMICHAEL STARR
Supreme Court justice Uzi Vogelman at the High Court of Justice in Jerusalem, on December 31, 2023
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir attends the weekly government conference, held at the Western Wall tunnels in Jerusalem's Old City on May 21, 2023.

Israel's top court rejects petition to remove Ben-Gvir from power

"We must define the limits of the reason of reasonableness," Justice Noam Sohlberg stated in his verdict.

|ByAVRAHAM BLOCH
A FULL PANEL of 15 justices sits for a High Court hearing on the legislation regarding the reasonableness standard, in September.

Israeli legal scholar quests need for striking down reasonableness law

Prof. Shahar Lifshitz of Bar-Ilan University suggests a more nuanced approach in formulating Basic Laws and urges caution in celebrating the High Court's decision.

|ByBINI ASCHKENASY
JUSTICE MINISTER Yariv Levin speaks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset plenum last month. In its decision, the High Court essentially dissolves the Knesset, irrespective of the individuals occupying its seats, the writer argues.

Israel is at a dangerous political junction

The overwhelming majority supporting the court’s bold and potentially perilous intervention in the Basic Law underscores a shared perspective among the judges appointed to the Supreme Court. 

|ByOMER DOSTRI

Israel's judicial reform law not a risk to public health, minister says

Health Minister Moshe Arbel rejected a Lancet report stating that recent judicial reform amendments would weaken Israel's healthcare system.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023ByARIELLA MARSDEN
Minister of Interior and Minister of Health Moshe Arbel seen during a Shas faction meeting, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on July 10, 2023.

Israel sends complaint to Germany after envoy's High Court 'interference'

Israel considers Steffen Seibert's attendance of the historic High Court hearing last week an "interference in Israel's internal affairs."

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
The High Court hearing of the government's judicial reform reasonableness bill on September 12, 2023

Herzog: Israeli leaders must show responsibility, end judicial crisis

"This is precisely the moment in which our political leadership must feign daring and responsibility and break us out of this crisis," Herzog said. 

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
PRESIDENT ISAAC Herzog hosts the Presidential Medal of Honor Award Ceremony at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, last week.

Will the High Court strike down the reasonableness law? - analysis

The reasonableness law was an amendment to a basic law, which the court believes requires a high threshold for the court to nullify.

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
MK Simcha Rothman seen at the High Court hearing of the government's judicial reform reasonableness bill on September 12, 2023

Does the Declaration of Independence allow court to strike basic laws?

Reformists and coalition politicians will need to shore up their arguments as to why the court doesn't have the right to engage in a review of basic laws.

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
FIRST PRIME MINISTER David Ben-Gurion reads Israel’s Declaration of Independence in Tel Aviv, on May 14, 1948

Historic High Court hearing held on judicial reform law

The over 12-hour hearing is the culmination of a year of political and legal turmoil for Israel over the first judicial reform legislation to pass into law.

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
High Court of Justice President Esther Hayut and the other Supreme Court justices are seen at a hearing over petitions against the reasonableness standard law, in Jerusalem, on September 12, 2023.

Vital High Court hearing: Reasonable with classic Israeli casualness

The rhetoric has been high in the streets and the Knesset, with leaders on both sides becoming caricatures and symbols of reviled movements. But the hearing was reasonable.

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
President of the Supreme Court of Israel Esther Hayut and all fifteen justices assemble to hear petitions against the reasonableness standard law in the High Court in Jerusalem, on Tuesday, September 12, 2023.

Petitioners say reasonableness law attempt to 'ruin Israel's democracy'

One petitioner argued that the law violates Israel's democratic principles.

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
Eliad Shraga, Lawyer and founder of the Movement for the Quality of Government at a court hearing on petitions against the government's "Reasonableness Bill", at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. September 12, 2023.

A-G's office argues High Court can strike down basic law

Basic laws lack clear boundaries as the Knesset has failed to pass Basic Law: Legislation to establish the rules for the articles.

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
Attorney Aner Helman with Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon at a court hearing on petitions against the government's "Reasonableness Standard Bill", at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. September 12, 2023.

Rothman: Justices are 'privileged elites,' overruling Israeli democracy

Speaking at the historic High Court hearing on Tuesday, Rothman argued the court was overruling the democratic will of the people to choose their elected officials.

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
MK Simcha Rothman seen at the High Court hearing of the government's judicial reform reasonableness bill on September 12, 2023