Legal adviser to Knesset panel: Latest overhaul bill has no precedent in a democracy

Legal adviser to the Knesset Constitution Law and Justice Committee Gur Bligh says he has found no precedent in any other democratic country where judicial review over legislation requires a unanimous decision of every judge on the relevant court, as proposed in a bill being advanced by committee chairman Rothman.

According to Rothman’s proposed legislation, all 15 justices of the High Court of Justice would need to decide unanimously that a law contravenes one of the Basic Laws in order to strike it down.

The legal adviser also notes if such a large majority of High Court justices rule a piece of legislation to be in contravention of a Basic Law, allowing the Knesset to override such a decision would be “unusual.”

Bligh says this requirement, along with other stipulations of the legislation — including the provision of a clause allowing the Knesset to make legislation immune from judicial review altogether — would “substantially reduce” the court’s ability to strike down legislation that contravenes the quasi-constitutional Basic Laws.