High Court rejects Rothman’s petition to bar Hayut from reasonableness hearing

The High Court rejects a petition filed by Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee MK Simcha Rothman seeking to have Chief Justice Esther Hayut barred from the panel hearing petitions against the government’s “reasonableness” law on the basis that she is biased on the issue.

Rothman, of the far-right Religious Zionism party, based his request Monday on a speech given by Hayut in January in which she strongly criticized all aspects of the judicial overhaul agenda presented by Justice Minister Yariv Levin earlier that month, including the plan to limit the High Court’s use of the reasonableness standard.

However, Justice Uzi Vogelman ruled that the contents of Hayut’s speech did not directly relate to the issues raised in the petition against the reasonableness law.

The reasonableness law, an amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary, is the only part of the government’s broad judicial overhaul program to have been passed so far. It prohibits the High Court from using the reasonableness standard to annul governmental and ministerial decisions and actions on the basis that they are unreasonable.

The hearing on petitions against the reasonableness law is scheduled for September 12.