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Last update - 02:54 01/06/2008 An offer they must refuse By Haaretz Editorial Tags: Israel Today, the Ministerial Committee on Legislation is slated to discuss a bill proposed by National Religious Party MK Eliahu Gabbay that seeks to change the makeup of the judicial selection committee. The bill was put forth as a privately sponsored initiative after Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann realized he could not amend a clause anchored in the state's Basic Laws without first reaching consensus among all the members of the coalition. The proposed amendment requires altering the Basic Law on The Judiciary. The amendment's passage can be ensured by a simple majority of those MKs who vote since this Basic Law does not require a special majority of MKs. The bill is a duplicate of the justice minister's earlier proposal, which in effect is yet another salvo in his battle with the Supreme Court. According to the bill, the makeup of the committee tasked with selecting judges - which has remained the sam sincethe early 1950swill be altered. This panel reflects synergy between the legislative branch, executive branch, judicial branch and the Israel Bar. It is comprised of three Supreme Court justices, including the court president; two ministers, including the justice minister who acts as head of the committee; two members of Knesset; and two representatives of the Israel Bar. The committee boasts a majority of jurists so as to highlight its commitment to preserving the sanctity of the legal profession; an emphasis on professional abilities is considered a decisive factor in the nomination of judges. These considerations serve as the criteria by which Supreme Court justices - who are required to demonstrate a wide range of legal expertise, competence and efficiency in view of the court's enormous workload - are picked The latest proposal will mandate that 11 members serve on the panel, this time with a greater political representation. The bill stipulates that one of the newly created panel slots be occupied by the chairman of the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. In effect, this move would reduce the Supreme Court's involvement in selecting justices. The proposed law also states that the Supreme Court president would be the sole justice on the panel; the other two seats would be manned by two retired judges or by two former District Court judges. These judges, who perhaps fell short in their bids to be named to the Supreme Court, would now be in a position to select the justices themselves. Giving the responsibility of naming Supreme Court justices to retired District Court judges is intended to allow for the nomination of judges younger than the age of 70 who retired from the bench after, among other reasons, failing to reach the highest judicial post in the land. The additional panel seat is reserved for an academic, for a professor of law, but this does not guarantee that committee member's political neutrality. The government's authorization of the judicial selection committee is a blatant, outrageous act of politicization. Advertisement Gabbay's proposal, which is really a Friedmann proposal, aims to change a long-standing tradition, and this change is not motivated by constructive purposes. Its only motivating factor is to harm the authority of the Supreme Court and to aggrandize the politicians' clout in selecting justices for the bench. This proposal must fall by the wayside and disappear off the public agenda. Given the current climate in the country, now is certainly not the right time to institute such a baseless reform, one that strikes at the foundation of judicial selection that has been in place for more than 50 years. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Building Google How an Israeli hi-tech guru inspired Google's 'magic formula'. La femme Tzipi Colleagues regale the Sunday Times with stories of Livni's days on a Mossad hit team.

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