Rothman: Any High Court justice who reviews laws on judicial appointments is a ‘criminal’

Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chair MK Simcha Rothman tells lawmakers that any High Court justice who engages in judicial review of laws regulating the appointment of judges is a “criminal,” as the court holds a hearing on a law establishing a new system for appointing judges that was passed by lawmakers last year.

The hearing centers on petitions against the law, which will greatly increase the influence of politicians in the judicial selection process in general and gives politicians total control over the selection of Supreme Court judges without any professional input. It will come into effect after the next election.

“A judge who rules on the question of how judges are appointed in a democratic country and in a Basic Law that was passed in the Knesset by a majority of 68 Knesset members is a criminal,” declares Rothman, an MK from the far-right Religious Zionism party and one of the key architects of the government’s contentious judicial overhaul agenda.

During today’s court hearing, Supreme Court President Isaac Amit said that the new system for choosing judges will “implant a political chip” in every Supreme Court judge and create judges who have “written on their foreheads” that they were appointed by the coalition or opposition.