US law academics oppose judicial overhaul in Israel

More than 70 professors of law at universities in the US have signed a statement opposing the changes to Israel’s judicial system being promoted by the government and in the process of being enacted.

The organizers of the statement are Prof. Oren Bar-Gill and Prof. Jesse Fried of Harvard University and Prof. Amos Guiora of the University of Utah.

RELATED ARTICLES

Goldman Sachs warns legal reforms could harm shekel

Netanyahu tells businesspeople he’s ready for dialogue

Kahneman: The judicial reform is a disaster

Netanyahu: Legal reforms will bring more growth

Among the signatories are Prof. Alan Dershowitz of Harvard University, Prof. Kenneth Bamberger of the University of California, Berkeley, Prof. David Webber of Boston University, who was an active in the campaign against the boycott of Israel by Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, and Prof. Lucian Bebchuk and Prof. Yochai Benkler, both of Harvard University.

“We, law professors in the United States who care deeply about Israel, strongly oppose the effort by the current Israeli government to radically overhaul the country’s legal system,” the professors’ statement says.

These changes, they say, “would grant the ruling coalition absolute power to appoint Justices and judges, make it almost impossible for the Supreme Court to invalidate legislation, severely limit judicial review of executive-branch decisions, and curtail the independence of the Attorney General and legal advisers assigned to different government agencies.”

“Some of us believe that the Israeli Supreme Court has over-reached in important respects and would support a scaling back of its power to review legislation and executive decisions. Others believe that the legal status quo need not be changed. Regardless of the disagreement amongst us, we are all deeply worried that the speed and scale of the reforms will seriously weaken the independence of the judiciary, the separation of powers and the rule of law.

“These safeguards have contributed to Israel’s flourishing over the last 75 years, helping it weather severe security, political and social challenges. Weakening them would pose a dire risk to freedom of expression, to human and civil rights, and to efforts to reduce corruption, making it harder for Israel to survive such challenges going forward. We hope for Israel’s sake that it chooses a wiser path,” the statement concludes.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on January 30, 2023.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2023.