Last update - 00:00 31/10/2007
Friedmann okays change in bill to strengthen High Court's authority
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann has agreed to a change in the bill on the authority of the High Court of Justice to strike down Knesset legislation. The original bill stated that the Knesset would need a majority of 61 to annul a High Court decision striking down a law passed by the Knesset. The bill now requires a majority of at least 66 MKs, and a gap of 15 between opponents and supporters.
This means that a bloc of lawmakers seeking to stop the plenum from overturning a High Court decision against its legislation will need less MKs than under the previous formulation. Advertisement
Friedmann is to present the bill to the Ministerial Committee on Legislation on Sunday for a vote.
The bill, an amendment to the Basic Law on the Judiciary, is the first to anchor in legislation the right of the High Court to strike down a law it has ruled is in opposition to rights in other basic laws. The bill states that only the High Court will have jurisdiction to strike down a law, only sitting as a bench of at least nine justices, and only by a two-thirds majority.
Friedmann apparently decided to move ahead independently on the bill after he realized that the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee was unable to move quickly enough toward a constitution, which would define the High Court's powers. Friedmann and committee chairman MK Menahem Ben-Sasson had reportedly agreed in March that the bill would not be independently promoted. However the minister's bureau stated at the time that if the issue was not moved ahead, he would do so independently.
Meanwhile, Friedmann was sharply criticized yesterday by outgoing State Prosecutor Eran Shendar. Shendar told the Israel Bar Association journal he that he had read an interview with Friedmann in which he was asked whether he was not worried that "they would do to him what they did to Haim Ramon. He answered that he would know how to deal with it. I am sorry the justice minister does not understand that our system works in a professional manner," Shendar said.
On another matter, Friedmann's bureau yesterday issued a clarification that in the meeting of the Judicial Selection Committee last Thursday the minister had supported delaying the appointment to the bench of the Haifa attorney who was alleged in an evaluation to maintain improper relations with criminal elements. Friedmann agreed to the postponement so that the allegations could be properly examined, his bureau said.