The Knesset has approved the first reading of the judicial override bill that will empower MKs to protect approved laws from judicial override by Israel’s Supreme Court.
Under the proposed law, Israeli lawmakers will be able to add an override clause to protect specific measures from judicial review, with a simple 61-vote majority. The law can be extended after a period of one year if it passes review.
In addition, the measure would require an 80-percent majority of Supreme Court justices to overturn any law that is reviewed by the Court.
The reading passed in a party-line vote of 61 to 52.
The measure now returns to the Constitution, Law and Justice committee for further revision and then returns for a second and third reading, after which it will become law if approved.
This is one of the proposed laws that Israel’s opposition lawmakers and their leftist allies are claiming “undermines the foundations” of Israeli democracy. Tens of thousands of Israeli leftists led by Knesset opposition lawmakers have spent the past 10 weeks protesting this law and others being proposed by Israel’s elected government, which holds a majority in the Knesset.
