Likud faction votes in favor of bill to assert political control over judge selection

Likud’s Knesset faction votes to approve the coalition’s new proposal to assert political control over the Judicial Selection Committee.

The party says it voted “with a huge majority for the bill that brings back balance to the Judicial Selection Committee and ends the undemocratic state in which judges appointed themselves.”

It asserts that “this system whereby public representatives elect judges is accepted in almost all democracies in the world. The claim that ending the system through which judges appoint themselves is the end of democracy is baseless.”

Four MKs voted against the bill at the faction meeting: Danny Danon, David Amsalem, Moshe Saada and Moshe Pasal.

The amended proposal would give a governing coalition full control over the first two appointments to the Supreme Court which open up during its tenure, but require the support of others for further appointments to that court. It would also change the Supreme Court presidency appointment process to allow the coalition to appoint the chief justice.

Opposition parties and national protest organizers have rejected the proposal, saying it is an attempt to mislead the public into thinking the judicial overhaul plan has been softened, while ensuring politicization of the court and causing grievous harm to Israel’s democratic system.