Last update - 00:00 16/01/2007
50 MKs express support for bill curbing Supreme Court authority
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent
Some 50 members of Knesset have expressed their support for a bill that will prevent the Supreme Court from overturning parliamentary legislation.
MK Esterina Tartman (Yisrael Beiteinu), who introduced the bill, collected the MKs' signatures in a bid to have it brought to Knesset for a preliminary reading on Wednesday morning.
However, the Knesset Committee on Tuesday rejected Tartman's attempt to expedite the legislation process.
During the session, Knesset Constitution Committee Chairman MK Menachem Ben-Sasson (Kadima) criticized the proposal and said that some Kadima members who signed were not fully aware of its consequences. Once they were told it would undermine the authority of the Supreme Court they would pull their support, Ben-Sasson said.
Meanwhile, the committee approved a similiar bill introduced by MK Avraham Ravitz (United Torah Judaism).
Ravitz told the plenum that the 'unfair' competition between the judicial and legislative branches should end.
According to the Ultra-Orthodox party member, it is unreasonable that 120 lawmakers should toil over legislation that can be overturned by the Supreme Court with the 'wave of a hand.'