Case Number
HCJ 5658/23
Date Decided
1-1-2024
Decision Type
Original
Document Type
Full Opinion
Abstract
Movement for Quality Government v. Knesset concerns challenges to Amendment No. 3 to Basic Law: The Judiciary (the “reasonableness amendment”). In view of the controversy surrounding the amendment and the fundamental constitutional question it raised in regard to the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction to review Basic Laws, the Court took the unprecedented step of sitting en banc. We translate here Chief Justice Hayut's majority opinion.
On January 1, 2024, a majority of the Court (12 of 15 justices) held that the Court held the authority to conduct judicial review of Basic Laws and to intervene in exceptional, extreme cases in which the Knesset deviated from its constituent authority. A majority of the Court (8 of 15 justices) further held that Amendment No. 3 to Basic Law: The Judiciary represented an extreme deviation from the Knesset’s constituent authority that left no alternative but to declare the amendment void.
Keywords
Administrative Law -- Judicial review, Constitutional Law -- Basic Law: The Judiciary, Constitutional Law -- Basic Law: The Knesset, Constitutional Law -- Constitutional amendment, Constitutional Law -- Judicial Review, Constitutional Law -- Legislation, Constitutional Law -- Rule of Law, Constitutional Law -- Separation of Powers, Legislation