Wednesday is a very busy day for the Knesset. The plenum is expected to approve in a preliminary reading several private bills as part of the plan to balance the relationship between the three branches of government, a.k.a. Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s judicial reform. The first part of the plan, altering the makeup of the committee to elect judges and barring the Supreme Court from annulling foundation laws was approved in a first reading on Monday.
One such private bill abolishes judicial review of ministerial appointments, which aims to restore Shas Chairman MK Aryeh Deri to his double post as Interior and Health Minister. The High Court invalidated his appointment by employing a judicial gimmick that had never been tried in these cases before: Estoppel, a device in common law whereby a court may prevent or “estop” a person from making assertions or from going back on his or her word; the person being sanctioned is “estopped.”
Wednesday’s private bill amends the Basic Law: The Government to say that “there shall be no judicial review on behalf of any judicial court regarding any matter related to or arising from the appointment of a minister and his removal from office,” except in accordance with the capacity conditions set forth therein.
Last week, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara informed the coalition that the bill would most likely be overturned by the High Court. Except that since it’s now anchored as an amendment to a basic law, the court would be forced to do that which it avoided in its most recent disqualification of Deri: annul a basic law.
That’s why they did the whole horse and buggy act with “estopping” in the first place.
As this report is being posted, we were informed that the Deri law has passed in a preliminary reading.
Another private bill was submitted on Wednesday by the Chairman of the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, MK Simcha Rothman, amending Basic Law: The Judgment, allowing the Knesset to overcome High Court rulings with a majority of 61 MKs. The amendment also says the High Court can invalidate laws only if all 15 Supreme Court justices support it, and only if the law “clearly contradicts a provision enshrined in a Basic Law.”
And, once again, should the court annul the law, they would be annulling a basic, foundation, constitutional law which they would hate to do because they themselves invented the doctrine that basic laws are by definition constitutional and therefore may not be overturned.
The Knesset is also voting on Wednesday (to remind you, all of these are preliminary votes and all the approved bills will be sent back to committee for comments and amendments) on a bill to subordinate the police dept. of internal affairs to the Justice Minister, and expand the unit’s authority to investigate state prosecution attorneys. The bill was submitted by MK Moshe Saada (Likud), who comes to politics from police internal affairs. The bill severs the ties between internal affairs and the prosecution, and bad prosecutors will be treated just like bad cops.
I reported earlier today on the Chametz bill (Gafni’s Chametz Law to Be Toned Down following First Plenum Vote) which is also up for a preliminary vote Wednesday.
Finally: the Knesset will cast a preliminary vote on a bill empowering rabbinic judges to serve as arbiters between the sides in a case before them, with the consent of both litigants. Needless to say, the High Court is not going to love this one either.
