Against the background of the protests and pressure from economists and senior officials of the justice system, "Israel Hayom" learned that the plan of Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to advance the reform of the justice system as it is currently formulated, and without significant compromises.
Only after the passage of the reform in the first reading in the Knesset, the coalition will be a little more open to negotiations on certain compromises in the wording.
Also, even if in the future there will be a compromise on some of the clauses, Levin's basic condition is the support of parts of the opposition in the wording that will be determined.
As of writing these lines, the two sides are still far from there, and it is not clear if they will even manage to reach a real negotiation - even after the first reading.
In the meantime, the legal advice to the Knesset published a harsh opinion on the text of the law by the chairman of the Constitution Committee, MK Simcha Rotman, which includes most of the elements of the legal reform with minor changes.
Rothman's version includes changing the committee for selecting judges, so that it will consist of three representatives: the Knesset, the government and the judges.
According to the wording, politicians will have a majority in the committee.
Also, Rothman proposed to limit the High Court's judicial ability to invalidate laws.
Levin.
will not compromise,
"Extremely unusual arrangement"
"The bill in the form of MK Rothman seriously harms the ability of the court to act as a brake on the power of the legislative and executive authorities," wrote the legal advice to the Knesset. Even in a comparative view of other democracies, it seems that it is difficult to find a combination of such significant restrictions on the ability of The judicial authority to review the two additional authorities, the legislative and the executive.
"Our position is that the proposed wording of each of the aforementioned amendments, and certainly their combination, as well as the absence of elements that limit the legislative and executive authorities in their actions - create an arrangement that is not balanced at all, and even extremely unusual from a comparative perspective. The arrangement expresses a very significant reduction in the brakes imposed on the two authorities, the legislative and the executive, and leads to a serious violation of the principle of their separation and decentralization of governmental power, which is a core principle in a democratic regime.
Rothman.
Severe restrictions, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"Furthermore, in view of the importance of putting brakes on the governmental power as a central means of protecting human rights and the 'rules of the game' of the democratic regime, there is a serious concern that the proposed arrangement will allow serious damage to the protection granted to these rights and principles."
The legal advice to the Knesset also attacked the change of Rothman's committee for selecting judges: "The proposed composition raises significant concerns about the politicization of the judicial system, and may even lead to judges being selected mainly on the basis of their political identity and personal preferences on the subject, instead of on the basis of their professionalism."
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