High Court rejects petitions demanding opposition MK help pick judges

In most recent Knessets, one of the two MKs on the committee came from the opposition.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
High Court of Justice prepares for hearing on whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can form the next government, May 3, 2020 (photo credit: COURTESY HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE)
High Court of Justice prepares for hearing on whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can form the next government, May 3, 2020
(photo credit: COURTESY HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE)
The High Court of Justice on Thursday rejected multiple petitions demanding that an opposition MK be appointed to the Judicial Selection Committee.
In July, the Knesset chose the government’s handpicked candidates, Likud MK Osnat Hila Mark and Derech Eretz MK Zvi Hauser, as its representatives on the committee, giving the opposition no representation.
In most recent Knessets, one of the two MKs on the committee came from the opposition.
However, the government has taken the position that since Hauser’s Derech Eretz faction was elected as part of Blue and White before it broke off, the idea of making sure one of the two MKs does not come from the ruling party, currently Likud, will still be fulfilled.
When the issue came before the High Court in May, it seemed inclined to look the other way since the government is multiheaded. But the justices criticized the idea of not having an official opposition member on the committee.
The nine-member committee is made up of three High Court justices, two Israel Bar Association appointees, the justice minister (who chairs the committee), another government minister and two MKs who are not ministers.
Israeli democracy would be better served if there were an opposition MK on the committee, Justices Isaac Amit, Daphna Barak-Erez and Anat Baron said, adding that they had no authority to enforce it.
Many mature democracies around the world had opposition input in judicial choices, they said, but this was not a uniform nor binding principle of democracy.
Despite recent Knesset practice, there has not been an irrevocable principle requiring an opposition MK to serve on the committee for more than seven decades, they said. As at the May preliminary hearing, they said having an MK not from Likud seemed to promote a diversity of views.
Most importantly, they said the courts must respect the separation of powers and should not overly intervene in issues under the Knesset’s auspices.
The petitions were filed by the Movement for the Quality of Government in Israel, the Guardians of Israeli Democracy and lawyer Moshe Shapira.


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