After a 17-hour filibuster, the law to alter the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee passed on Thursday morning by a majority of 67 to 1. All opposition party members walked out of the Knesset plenum during the third and final vote. It should be noted that the amendment to the Basic Law will take effect only during the 26th Knesset’s term.
The High Court of Justice is expected to voice its opinion on the new law following a hearing of at least two petitions that are opposed to the changes, filed moments after the law had passed. Should the justices decide not to challenge the law, this could spell the beginning of a long process of undoing the damage inflicted on Israel’s judicial system 35 years ago by the architect of the creeping judicial coup, then-Supreme Court President Aharon Barak (see unhappy image above).
The composition of the Judicial Selection Committee was altered to include nine members: the President of the Supreme Court and two additional Supreme Court judges; the Minister of Justice and another minister; a Knesset member from the coalition; a Knesset member from the opposition; and two public representatives, preferably attorneys but not as representatives of the Bar as was the case until now, one appointed by the coalition factions and the other by the opposition factions.
A decision of the committee will be made by a majority of five members. To elect a judge, it is required to have the support of at least one judge, one representative chosen by the coalition, and one representative chosen by the opposition. For the election of a Supreme Court judge, the support of the coalition and opposition representatives alone is sufficient; the endorsement of one of the judge members of the committee is not mandatory for the appointment.
In other words, the coalition does not have an automatic majority on the committee, however, it does have veto power over the nominations. In the current electoral reality, this would be the balance of power in the committee:
COALITION SIDE
2 ministers
1 MK
1 representative of the public
OPPOSITION SIDE
3 justices
1 MK
1 representative of the public
If the terms of two Supreme Court justices have expired and the committee has failed to appoint judges in their place, the justice minister may activate a “deadlock” mechanism, which can be used once during each Knesset term. This mechanism will allow the coalition representatives on the committee to propose three candidates of their choice, and the remaining members will be obligated to select a candidate from among them. A similar option will be provided to the opposition representatives.
After the law was approved, the leaders of the Yesh Atid, Democrats, National Unity, and Israel Beiteinu parties stated that they would work to reverse the change in the next government. In a joint statement, Yair Lapid, Yair Golan, Benny Gantz, and Avigdor Lieberman said, “The Israeli government recently approved a law with one goal — to ensure that judges become subject to the will of politicians.”
They failed to mention that “politicians” are elected representatives, whose will is the will of the voters. They also failed to mention that the new law returns a little bit of balance to the judicial appointments process which used to be dominated by the left.
