AG pans coalition attempt to cancel legal review of minister picks, reinstate Deri

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara came out Saturday against a bill aimed at enabling convicted Shas leader Aryeh Deri’s return to a ministerial post after his recent disqualification, predicting the legislation will likely be struck down by the High Court of Justice if passed.

The proposal, which the government is due to begin advancing on Sunday, would amend the existing Basic Law: Government, to insert a clause stipulating that no court will be able to exercise judicial review over the appointment of cabinet ministers or be able to remove them from office. The one exception would be if an individual is appointed as a minister despite not having the formal qualifications required by law.

Deri, who is also vice prime minister, was appointed health and interior minister when Netanyahu’s new government was sworn in last December. However, the High Court ruled that granting the Shas chief a cabinet post was “unreasonable in the extreme” due to his past criminal convictions — including one last year for tax offenses — and because he had falsely convinced a judge last year that he was permanently withdrawing from political life to secure a lenient plea bargain.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who complied with the court ruling and reluctantly fired Deri three weeks ago, has since been scrambling to find a workaround, with Deri demanding that the prime minister find a way to reinstate him as a minister.

In a legal opinion sent to Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Baharav-Miara’s deputies Gil Limon and Avital Sompolinsky opined that the bill would render government appointments a “black hole” immune from judicial review.

“The proposed law constitutes another attempt, the second in a row, to remove constitutional safeguards — based on the principle of the rule of law, incorruptibility, and the proper administration and public trust in all of these — which stand before the appointment of MK Aryeh Deri as a government minister,” they wrote.

Limon and Sompolinsky warned the bill could lead to “an extremely unusual intervention” in which the High Court strikes down a Basic Law or an amendment to one, which would be unprecedented. Though the court has never done so, it has intimated that it has judicial review over them in some circumstances.

“The legislating of another personal arrangement,” they said, “will result in a line being crossed.”

The two warned the court could determine the bill is an abuse of power.

“Our position is that because of the fundamental and other difficulties inherent to this bill, it should be opposed,” they concluded.

The bill marks the coalition’s second attempt to bring Deri back to office since the November 1 election. It has previously passed an amendment allowing an individual given a suspended sentence in the past seven years to serve as a minister, as is the case with Deri. Though the law passed and was ultimately upheld by the High Court, it was not enough to prevent the Shas leader from being disqualified as minister.

The effort to restore Deri as a minister comes as the government is working on a contentious judicial overhaul, including enabling the Knesset to relegislate laws with a minimal majority even after the High Court has struck them down, among other far-reaching measures. While the coalition says the radical shakeup is needed to rein in an over-intrusive court and uphold voters’ will, critics say the changes will significantly damage Israel’s democratic character.