Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann has backed away from a proposed law that would limit the Supreme Court's ability to declare laws passed by the Knesset illegal.
 
Minister Friedmann and the head of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, MK Menahem Ben-Sasson (Kadima), published a joint statement on Wednesday saying that the Justice Minister would not submit the bill to Knesset for legislation. However, the Justice Ministry will publish a brief on the proposed law for public review.


In his own comments, Friedmann said that he hoped to see his proposals for reform promoted in some form during the current Knesset session.
 
During a February meeting of the cabinet committee on legislation, Friedmann proposed submitting a bill giving the Knesset the ability to check the power claimed by the Supreme Court to overturn duly passed laws. At the time, he said his bill would be based on the Canadian model of checks and balances, and would be called the "Basic Law on Legislation".  According to the proposal, the Knesset would be able to override a decision by the Supreme Court that branded a law illega

Justice Minister Friedmann has not restrained his criticism.

l, on condition that the law went through the entire three-stage legislation process again. In order to become permanent legislation, immune to further judicial rejection, the law would have to be passed again within six months of the court's decision sending the law back to parliament.


The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee requested that Minister Friedmann hold off on submitting the checks-and-balances bill to the Knesset, in favor of including it as part of a proposed constitution. Whether or not this happens, and if Friedmann's bill is then submitted to the Knesset for independent legislation, the Justice Minister is dependent on the Knesset law committee to prepare the bill for its second and third readings.


MK Yitzchak Levy (National Union-NRP), a member of the Knesset Law Committee, criticized the development.  He said the Justice Minister "was scared off by the criticism from Supreme Court justices and he got cold feet, instead of defending the independence of the Knesset."


Despite his current collaborative approach to his new legislative initiatives, Justice Minister Friedmann has not restrained his criticism of the existing system. In an interview with Israel's Channel 2 television station, Friedmann said that the process by which judges are appointed to their positions in Israel is flawed.


"The appointments are for the long term. After looking into the issue, it seems to me that the degree of care invested in the appointments is minimal," Friedmann charged.