[Israel] High Court invalidates law for repealing the Reasonableness Clause

The High Court judges ruled in an 8-7 vote. The High Court of Justice on Monday struck down the basic law for repealing the reasonableness clause by a majority of 8 justices who opposed the law against 7 who supported it. Observers estimates are that the judges published the verdict this evening to prevent further leaks, and in response to a proposal raised in the Knesset, first published by Walla!, to delay publication of the verdict due to the war.

The High Court also approved its own power to strike down basic laws as a general matter by a vote of 12-3.Last Wednesday, N12 published a leak of the High Court’s draft verdict, which indicated that the judges were expected to invalidate the law by a narrow margin. This was an unprecedented step and the first-ever leak of a draft verdict from the High Court to a media outlet.

**Why was the law invalidated?**Outgoing President of the High Court, Esther Hayut, was among the majority who struck the law. In the draft of the verdict, Hayut wrote that “the Basic Law constitutes a significant deviation from ‘the evolving constitution’ and therefore must be accepted with broad consensus and not by a narrow coalition majority.”

**What is the reasonableness clause?**The reasonableness clause was developed by the High Court to review decisions of the executive level, namely the bureaucracy in government ministries and local authorities, and also to review decisions of elected officials and those they appoint. In other words, it’s where the judicial branch weighs in on policy decisions made by the other branches which impact constitutional rights.