Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (New Right) on Monday presented her “100-day plan” which she will implement should she be appointed Justice minister in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s next coalition government. the court system.
In a speech at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Jerusalem, Shaked said she intends to change the method of selecting Supreme Court justices, taking that responsibility away from the Judicial Selection Committee, and keeping it instead under her own jurisdiction – namely, the justice minister would submit a list of judicial candidates for approval by the government and the Knesset.
Shaked criticized the Judicial Selection Committee, which “has become a powerful tool in assimilating the [left-wing] revolution.” She suggested that “throughout its years in government, the national camp did not lift a finger against the revolution. Up until the last term, the right was elected – but did not rule.”
Shaked also said that she plans to have Supreme Court candidates undergo a public hearing.
“In the vast majority of Western democracies,” Shaked noted, “It is the elected officials who appoint the judges of the highest court in the judicial system. There is no reason for us to stay behind. The public is entitled to know the judicial views of a candidate to the Supreme Court.”
Also coming up: passing the full version of the overpowering rule, permitting legislation that contradicts foundation laws, under certain circumstances; ministers will be able to represent themselves in court should their office’s legal counsel object to their decision; and the legal council law, allowing the appointment of legal advisors in government ministries through a search committee.
Shaked attacked the Supreme Court in her speech, saying: “In the 1980s, a new generation established itself in the Supreme Court, which established a new concept: the court is the supreme arbiter. This coincided, inevitably, with a dramatic drop in the public trust of the Supreme Court.”
Shaked said that thanks to her involvement as justice minister, “the Supreme Court today is more diverse, more reflective and more balanced than it was before I took office. I influenced the appointments of the attorney general and his various deputies, and there, too, there have been signs of change.”
Shaked added that the completion of the Basic Law: Legislation would encourage a situation where “the Supreme Court will no longer be perceived as an active player in the political field, with the last word on [these issues].”
Shaked also criticized the multiple powers held by the attorney general in Israel: “Occasionally, the attorney general has turned from being the government’s attorney into its prosecutor,” she said. “The method of appointing the attorney general must be reverted to the way AGs were appointed for most of the past years – by a government decision, based on the recommendation of the justice minister.”