The Supreme Court of Israel ruled Monday against a crucial component of the government’s controversial legal reform, which challenged the judiciary’s powers and sparked mass protests.
According to the Supreme Court statement, eight of 15 judges ruled against a July amendment passed by parliament that eliminates the reasonableness clause, which the court uses to overturn government policies considered unconstitutional.
“This is due to the severe and unprecedented damage to the basic characteristics of the State of Israel as a democratic state”, the statement reads.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the comprehensive judicial reform package he proposed a year ago was necessary to rebalance powers between judges and legislators.
His adversaries, however, worry that the multi-pronged package paved the way for authoritarian rule and may be used by Netanyahu to overturn potential verdicts against him, an accusation the premier denies.
Tens of thousands of protesters had protested weekly against the government reforms, with protests only halting when the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October.
The reasonableness amendment, the only significant part of the legal reform package to become law, was also one of its most contentious steps since it intended to limit court control of the government.
When Netanyahu’s allies voted in July to repeal the reasonableness clause in July, opposition members stormed out, yelling ‘shame!’
Only a handful of court decisions have used the rule, including a high-profile case last year that prohibited a Netanyahu ally from serving in the cabinet due to a previous tax evasion conviction.
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