Israeli Supreme Court hears first challenge to Netanyahu's contentious judicial overhaul

Israel's Supreme Court hears 1st case on the legality of PM Netanyahu's judicial overhaul, deepening a showdown with the far-right gov't.

Israel’s Supreme Court on September 12 opened the first case to look at the legality of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul— deepening a showdown with the far-right government that has bitterly divided the nation and put the country on the brink of a constitutional crisis.

In a sign of the case’s significance, all 15 of Israel’s Supreme Court justices are hearing appeals to the law together for the first time in Israel’s history. A regular panel is made up of three justices, though they sometimes sit on expanded panels. The proceedings were also being livestreamed.

“It’s a historic day,” said Susie Navot, vice president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank that has been critical of the overhaul. “This is the first time we’ve had this kind of hearing.”

Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition, a collection of ultranationalist and ultrareligious lawmakers, launched the overhaul early this year, shortly after taking office. Proponents of the plan say the country’s unelected judiciary, led by the Supreme Court, wields too much power. Critics say the plan to weaken the Supreme Court removes a key safeguard and will concentrate power in the hands of Mr. Netanyahu and his far-right allies.

The hearing on September 12 puts the country’s senior justices in the unprecedented position of deciding whether to accept limits to their own powers. It focuses on the first law passed by parliament in July — a measure that cancels the court’s ability to strike down government decisions it deems to be “unreasonable.” Judges have used the legal standard in the past to prevent government decisions viewed as unsound or corrupt.

The judicial overhaul — which opponents characterize as a profound threat to Israeli democracy — has infuriated Israelis across many segments of society, bringing hundreds of thousands into the streets to march at one protest after another for the past 36 weeks.

The protesters have come largely from the country’s secular middle class. Leading high-tech business figures have threatened to relocate. Perhaps most dramatically, thousands of military reservists have broken with the government and declared their refusal to report for duty over the plan.