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Israel's Supreme Court Claims a Veto on Political Appointments
(Wall Street Journal) Eugene Kontorovich - Israel's Supreme Court last week invalidated the ministerial appointment of Aryeh Deri, leader of one party in the new governing coalition. The Knesset had specifically passed a law authorizing someone in Deri's situation (he had pleaded guilty to criminal charges) to hold cabinet office, but the court said it would be "unreasonable" for him to be a minister - a kind of impeachment by judiciary. No judiciary in the world has as far-reaching powers over government as Israel's. The court assumed these powers in recent decades without authorization from lawmakers or a national consensus, and there is no reason they should be unalterable. The reform proposals wouldn't undermine judicial independence and would make the Israeli court more like its American counterpart. The writer is a professor at George Mason University Law School and a scholar at the Kohelet Policy Forum in Jerusalem.