The 2023 Israeli judicial reform is a set of five changes to the judicial system and the balance of powers in Israel that were proposed in January 2023. The intent of the measures is to curb the judiciary's influence over lawmaking and public policy by limiting the Supreme Court's power to exercise judicial review, granting the government control over judicial appointments and limiting the authority of its legal advisors. The effort was led by Yariv Levin, the deputy prime minister and minister of justice, and Simcha Rothman, the chair of the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
The Supreme Court has, for several decades, assumed the right to declare Knesset legislation unconstitutional. The reform would permit the Knesset to override such a ruling by reintroducing the legislation and approving it with a majority of Knesset members. The reform would additionally diminish the ability of courts to conduct judicial review of the Basic Laws and change the makeup of the Judicial Selection Committee, so that control over the appointment of judges is effectively given to the government.
Levin and the ruling government coalition have stated that the above is the first step in their judicial reform, and that additional steps are planned, including:
changing the appointment process of legal advisors to government ministries, such that they are appointed and dismissed by the ministers;
making the legal advisers' legal advice a recommendation, rather than binding on the ministers; and
making them subordinate directly to the ministers, rather than to the Justice Ministry's professional oversight.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintains that the reform is necessary because the judiciary has too much control over public policy, and a better balance is needed between democratically elected legislators and the judiciary.
However, Netanyahu has been barred from actively taking part in the process of the judicial reform by the attorney general, due to a conflict of interest stemming from his ongoing corruption trial.
The coalition is also advancing a number of other bills concerning Israel's judicial system and the balance of powers, including:
reforms to widen the authority of the Rabbinical Court, allowing them to act as arbitrators in civil matters using religious law, if both parties consent;
bills limiting the ability to call for a no-confidence vote and other methods for dissolving a sitting Knesset;
bills prohibiting criminal proceedings against sitting Prime Ministers (which could free the current PM, Netanyahu, from the corruption charges currently pending against him); and
bills permitting key public service positions to be positions of trust, appointed by politicians, rather than professional appointments.
The proposed reform has sparked significant backlash, as well as some support, both inside and outside of Israel. Opposition leaders and activists accused the government of undermining established norms of checks and balances and attempting to seize absolute power, with some arguing the reform amounts to an attempt at regime change. Israeli President Isaac Herzog has called for the reforms to be halted to allow for a wider consultative process, and the president of the Supreme Court and the attorney general have attested to the reform's illegalities. Protests against the reform escalated in Israel shortly after its introduction, as did significant concern among some in the international community.
On 27 March 2023, after public protests and general strikes, Netanyahu announced a pause in the reform process to allow for dialogue with opposition parties. However, negotiations aimed at reaching a compromise collapsed in June, and the government resumed its plans to unilaterally pass parts of the legislation. On 24 July 2023, the Knesset passed a bill that curbs the power of the Supreme Court to declare government decisions unreasonable; on 1 January 2024, the Supreme Court struck the bill down. On 27 March 2025, the Knesset passed a bill to change the makeup of the Judicial Selection Committee.
The 2023 Israeli judicial reform is a set of five changes to the judicial system and the balance of powers in Israel that were proposed in January 2023. The intent of the measures is to curb the judiciary's influence over lawmaking and public policy by limiting the Supreme Court's power to exercise judicial review, granting the government control over judicial appointments and limiting the authority of its legal advisors. The effort was led by Yariv Levin, the deputy prime minister and minister of justice, and Simcha Rothman, the chair of the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
The Supreme Court has, for several decades, assumed the right to declare Knesset legislation unconstitutional. The reform would permit the Knesset to override such a ruling by reintroducing the legislation and approving it with a majority of Knesset members. The reform would additionally diminish the ability of courts to conduct judicial review of the Basic Laws and change the makeup of the Judicial Selection Committee, so that control over the appointment of judges is effectively given to the government.
Levin and the ruling government coalition have stated that the above is the first step in their judicial reform, and that additional steps are planned, including:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintains that the reform is necessary because the judiciary has too much control over public policy, and a better balance is needed between democratically elected legislators and the judiciary.
However, Netanyahu has been barred from actively taking part in the process of the judicial reform by the attorney general, due to a conflict of interest stemming from his ongoing corruption trial.
The coalition is also advancing a number of other bills concerning Israel's judicial system and the balance of powers, including:
The proposed reform has sparked significant backlash, as well as some support, both inside and outside of Israel. Opposition leaders and activists accused the government of undermining established norms of checks and balances and attempting to seize absolute power, with some arguing the reform amounts to an attempt at regime change. Israeli President Isaac Herzog has called for the reforms to be halted to allow for a wider consultative process, and the president of the Supreme Court and the attorney general have attested to the reform's illegalities. Protests against the reform escalated in Israel shortly after its introduction, as did significant concern among some in the international community.
On 27 March 2023, after public protests and general strikes, Netanyahu announced a pause in the reform process to allow for dialogue with opposition parties. However, negotiations aimed at reaching a compromise collapsed in June, and the government resumed its plans to unilaterally pass parts of the legislation. On 24 July 2023, the Knesset passed a bill that curbs the power of the Supreme Court to declare government decisions unreasonable; on 1 January 2024, the Supreme Court struck the bill down. On 27 March 2025, the Knesset passed a bill to change the makeup of the Judicial Selection Committee.
Background
Israeli Supreme Court and judicial review
All legislation, government orders, and administrative actions of state bodies are subject to judicial review by the Supreme Court of Israel, which has as of several decades ago assumed the power to strike down legislation and reverse executive decisions it determines to be in violation of Israel's Basic Laws.
This role of the Supreme Court in Israel has been seen by those who oppose the reform as crucial for the protection of human rights in light of its otherwise weak system of checks and balances, which lacks a bicameral legislative system, a president with executive powers, a federal government, regional elections, membership in a regional supra-governmental organization, or acceptance of the International Court of Justice's authority.
The exercise of these powers by the court has often sparked controversy within Israel, usually among right-wing politicians and their supporters. Many of the court's rulings, particularly those limiting the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, as well as those affecting ultra-Orthodox autonomy and way of life have sparked resentment among ultra-Orthodox and Religious Zionist politicians, many of whom have accused the court of engaging in judicial activism in favor of left-wing causes.
1992 Constitutional Revolution and its discontents
Between 1992 and 1999, Supreme Court Justice Aharon Barak developed a doctrine in a series of rulings, the guiding principle of which is the introduction of human rights indirectly to private law. This is done with the help of concepts such as "good faith", "public policy" or "violation of legal duty" that the judges apply in their rulings. The proponents of judicial reform claim that the problem is that the concepts depend on the judge who interprets them, resulting in legal uncertainty, opening private and government action to judicial review according to the dictates of the judge's conscience and not necessarily according to the laws established by the legislature.
2018–2022 Israeli political crisis and 2022 legislative election
Following the election, Likud leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed the thirty-seventh government of Israel, assigning many powerful positions in the new government to previously marginalized far-right politicians who had long advocated policies that conflicted with many of the supreme court's precedents and have sought to curtail its powers. Among the incoming government's official policy guidelines was a commitment to judicial reform.
Legislative history
On 4 January 2023, newly appointed Justice MinisterYariv Levin announced his intention to overhaul Israel's judiciary. On 11 January, Levin published a draft of his proposed changes, which included the following changes to the judiciary, executive and legislative processes and functions:
Judicial selection — The committee which is responsible for recommending the appointment of judges currently consists of serving judges, representatives of the Israel Bar Association, Knesset members and government ministers, and is composed as such that agreement is required between these different groups. The proposed changes seek to change the composition of the committee, giving a majority of votes to the government and thus giving the government control over the selection and dismissal of all judges, including of the Supreme Court.
Judicial review — The proposed changes seek to curb judicial review over legislation, including by explicitly legislating against the Supreme Court's exercise of judicial review of Basic Laws, and requiring a full bench of Supreme Court justices to preside over any case in which the legality of regular legislation passed by the Knesset is evaluated, and 80% of them to rule for invalidation of such legislation.
Knesset override — The proposed changes seek to allow the Knesset to overrule a decision by the Supreme Court on the legality of legislation, where the Knesset votes with a majority (of 61, out of 120 Knesset members) against the court decision.
Legal advisers to government ministries — The proposed changes seek to reclassify ministry legal advisers from independent authorities, subject to the professional oversight of the Justice Ministry, to politically selected counsel whose opinions are explicitly non-binding upon the government and its ministers, thus allowing ministers to individually select and dismiss their legal advisors and decide whether or not to adhere to legal advice.
Reasonableness — The proposed changes seek to limit the scope of judicial review of governmental and administrative decisions, by legislating against the concept of 'reasonableness'. This would preclude the courts from hearing petitions or appeals against governmental and administrative decisions on the basis that such decisions are 'unreasonable'.
On 24 July 2023, the Knesset passed the law curbing judicial review of reasonableness.
HCJ 5658/23 Movement for Quality Government in Israel v. Knesset (2024)
On 12 September 2023, for the first time in its history, the court heard the case with all 15 justices sitting. At the end of December 2023, Israeli television station Keshet 12 reported the ruling in advance based on a leaked draft of the decision. The bill was struck down by the Supreme Court, in its role as the High Court of Justice, on 1 January 2024 by a vote of 8–7. The justices also ruled 12–3 that the court has the power to overturn Basic Laws.
Each justice wrote their own opinion. Justice Hayut noted Israel's "fragile, lacking system of checks and balances" in finding that the reform was unreasonable; Amit echoed the "heavy democratic deficit in Israel", saying that "such a cancellation of the reasonableness doctrine has much greater weight here than in other countries". Justice Stein agreed in upholding the court's ability to strike down laws, writing that "the Knesset never received the authority to pass any law it pleased", but voted with the minority in favor of the proposed reform, finding that it "violates no constitutional norm". Sohlberg, meanwhile, wrote that "frail legal constructs" did not mean the court could overrule the Knesset.
Proposed changes
Judicial selection
Current system
The Judicial Selection Committee is composed of nine members. Three of them are Supreme Court judges, two are representatives of the Bar Association, two are Knesset members and two are ministers. Selection of judges to all courts require a simple majority of the committee, but selection of Supreme Court judges require the approval of seven out of the nine members on the committee, granting essentially veto powers to either the three judges or the representatives of the ruling parliamentary coalition.
According to the Israel Democracy Institute, the effect of the current system is one of consensus, in that "the selection of Supreme Court justices has mandated the consent of the politicians on the [Committee], because a majority of seven of its nine members must support a successful candidate. By the same token, the politicians cannot select judges without the agreement of the justices on the committee. This principle has generally produced a consensus on a slate of new justices." In contrast, those who view the current Supreme Court as left-leaning, including Minister of Justice Yariv Levin and Prime Minister Netanyahu, state that this 'consensus' is one-sided: When a right-wing government is in place, its members must compromise with the allegedly left-leaning committee members (the three Supreme Court justices and the Bar representatives who, it is claimed by Levin, vote as a block), but when a left-wing government is in charge, supposedly no such consensus is needed. They point to the recent appointment of 61 judges in one sitting of the committee, under the previous center-left government, with no effective way for the opposition to object.
Proposed system
According to the amendments proposed to the Judiciary Basic Law by Justice Minister, Yariv Levin, the Judicial Selection Committee's composition will be changed to give greater weight to the legislative and executive branches of government. The committee will consist of eleven members, namely the Minister of Justice who will serve as the Committee Chairman, two Ministers designated by the government, the Chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, the Chairman of the Knesset State Control Committee, the Chairman of the Knesset Committee, the President of the Supreme Court, two other judges of the Supreme Court who will be chosen from their fellow judges, and two public representatives chosen by the Minister of Justice, one of them being a lawyer. As a result, since the committee chairmen are usually (though not always) selected from the ranks of the ruling coalition, the government could have complete control over the appointment and dismissal of judges, with seven representatives on the Committee out of eleven members in total.
Arguments in favor of the reform
Arguments put forward to justify this change include the following: