An agreement between the Justice Minister and the Supreme Court based seeks to end mounting tensions between the two.
By DAN IZENBERGjp.services2(photo credit: )
Retired Supreme Court presidents Meir Shamgar and Aharon Barak announced on Wednesday that they had reached an agreement with Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann on the basic principles of the relationship between him and Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch.
The agreement, based on the principle of separation of powers, seeks to end mounting tensions between the two.
According to the understanding, "the president of the Supreme Court and the minister of Justice will cooperate to improve the judicial system. This will be done in the context of recognizing that the president stands at the head of the judicial system and the justice minister is responsible for the administrative arrangements of the courts, all in accordance with the powers granted them by law and in the spirit of the tradition of mutual respect."
The understanding also declared that the minister and the president agreed to cooperatively advance measures, including legislation, to strengthen the independence of the judicial system and to create internal mechanisms for administering it.
Shamgar and Barak asked to meet Friedmann after tensions between the justice minister and the Supreme Court president reached a new low recently, when Beinisch attacked Friedmann in public for proposing changes in the way judges are elected without first consulting her.
