Basic Law: The Judiciary חוק יסוד: השפיטה

Ключевые положения

• Judicial power vested in courts; judges subject only to the law
• Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem; functions as both court of appeal and as the High Court of Justice (Bagatz) for petitions against state authorities
• Judges appointed by the President on recommendation of a nine-member Judicial Selection Committee (3 Supreme Court justices, 2 Israel Bar Association representatives, 2 ministers including the Justice Minister, 2 MKs traditionally one coalition and one opposition)
• Judges serve until mandatory retirement at 70; may be removed only by the Judicial Selection Committee or for criminal conviction
• Public hearings unless otherwise provided by law

Контекст

Enacted on 28 February 1984, consolidating decades of accumulated court legislation into a single constitutional charter. Its drafters deliberately kept the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee in the statute itself, giving sitting judges and the bar a built-in majority, a design that, while ensuring professional independence, became the central battleground of 21st-century Israeli politics as elected majorities sought greater democratic input into who shapes the bench.

Заметные поправки

• 2008: Required Supreme Court appointments to win 7 of 9 votes on the Selection Committee (effective veto for either side)
• July 2023 ('Reasonableness Amendment'): Narrowed judicial review of elected officials' policy choices by removing the 'extreme unreasonableness' doctrine as applied to government and ministerial decisions, passed 64-0 after the opposition walked out
• 1 January 2024: Struck down by the Supreme Court 8-7 (sitting as a 15-justice enlarged panel), the first time in Israeli history that a Basic Law amendment was invalidated; a broader 12-3 majority affirmed the Court's theoretical power to review Basic Laws when they undermine Israel's core identity as a Jewish and democratic state
• March 2025: Amendment changing composition of the Judicial Selection Committee, replacing the two Israel Bar Association seats with attorneys nominated by the coalition and opposition, giving elected representatives a greater role in judicial selection; passed 67-0 with the opposition boycotting; effective only from the next Knesset (elections scheduled October 2026)

Сегодня

The 2025 amendment is under a full-bench Supreme Court challenge, all 11 justices, with oral arguments held in June 2026, testing whether the Court will extend its 2024 logic to a second Basic Law amendment. Israel, the region's only full democracy, continues working through these questions of judicial design openly and through its democratic institutions.