Ex-chief justice slams Friedmann's plan to curtail court's power - Haaretz

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Last update - 21:37 21/11/2007

Ex-chief justice slams Friedmann's plan to curtail court's power

By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent

Tags: Aharon Barak

Former chief justice of the Supreme Court Aharon Barak slammed the justice minister's plan to curtail the court's power Wednesday, warning against the formation of "black holes" on issues which the Supreme Court will not be able to rule on.

Barak's comments comes in the wake of a Haaretz report that Friedmann was considering proposing a bill that would not allow the Supreme Court to rule on cases regarding political, defense or fiscal issues.

"You can determine that certain issues will not be open to the court's rulings, like military matters, however that will create a black hole around this issue. And if someone were to create a black hole around an issue in Israel ? it won't be a black hole in The Hague. They don't have issues that a court can't rule on - that's just something we made up here," Barak said.

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Speaking at a college in Ramat Gan, Barak said "that while not everything can be open to the court's ruling we can't give the executive branch the final word regarding the protection of people's rights. If we want a constitution, we must not leave people's rights in the hands of the majority."

The ex-chief justice, who met recently with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other politicians in an attempt to thwart Friedmann's initiative, directed the blame at the cabinet ministers: "The Justice Minister is not acting alone," Barak said, "any proposal that seeks to reduce the court's jurisdiction on nine out of the eleven Basic Laws is a danger to our democracy. If I was prime minister I would not support any bill that harms the Knesset's framing of the constitution."

Head of the Knesset Constitution Committee MK Menachem Ben-Sasson announced Wednesday that he supports Barak and not Friedmann.

"It wouldn't be right to run and pass a law empowering the Knesset's authority over the courts. How will it use this power? On two Basic Laws or all eleven? I believe that all eleven Basic Laws make up the constitution and they need to be given that status."

On Sunday, Friedmann criticized Barak for meeting with politicians in an attempt to stop his bill proposal. "The lobbying of former chief justices reflects an unhealthy trend," Friedmann said, "even a former judge needs to remember that he is a judge."

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