Israeli Bar Association election results hinder judicial reform amid protest

In a blow to the Israeli government’s judicial reform initiative, Attorney Amit Becher won the election for leadership of the Israel Bar Association election, the Bar Association announced on Wednesday night.
Becher, an outspoken opponent of the government’s judicial program, has served as interim Bar Association chairman since March and will now hold the post on a permanent basis. He defeated former chairman Efi Nave by a wide margin, 73 per cent to 20 per cent. The remaining seven per cent was split between two other candidates. The race was dominated by the result’s impact on the Judicial Selection Committee, which is responsible for vetting and approving judges at all levels of Israel’s civil court system. Around 60 per cent of the Bar Association’s 77,000 active, dues-paying Israeli attorneys voted. Previous votes only drew about 30% of the membership.
The Judicial Selection Committee had become a major sticking point in negotiations over the coalition’s judicial reform program. The government’s overhaul program calls for removing the two Bar Association representatives from the Judicial Selection Committee. The nine-member committee consists of two Cabinet members, one of whom is the justice minister, who serves as chairman. The rest of the committee is made up of three Supreme Court justices, two members of the Knesset and two members of the Bar Association. Traditionally, the two seats for Knesset members are divided between the governing coalition and the opposition.
Reformists say the three Supreme Court justices on the committee, who are chosen by the president of the court, have de facto veto power over appointments as they can count on the automatic support of the two Bar Association representatives, giving them a five-vote bloc on the nine-member committee.
Five votes are enough to appoint judges to all the civil courts except the Supreme Court, which requires the support of seven committee members. Bar Association members also cast ballots for the 44-member National Council, the association’s executive body. The National Council chooses the association’s representatives on the Judicial Selection Committee. Becher’s slate won 16 of the 28 directly-elected seats. The Bar Association chairman also has a seat on the National Council.
The results leave Becher with strong influence over who the Bar Association’s representatives on the Judicial Selection Committee will be.
The governing coalition’s judicial reforms are deeply controversial. Other legislation advancing through the Knesset would give the Knesset the ability to override certain High Court rulings, restrict the ability of judges to apply standards of “reasonableness,” and change the way legal advisors are appointed to government ministries. Supporters of the legal overhaul say they want to end years of judicial overreach while opponents describe the proposals as anti-democratic.