{"id":9270,"date":"2016-05-01T10:28:34","date_gmt":"2016-05-01T10:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohelet.org.il\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/"},"modified":"2016-05-01T10:28:34","modified_gmt":"2016-05-01T10:28:34","slug":"is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it wrong to critique decisions by the Israel Supreme Court?"},"content":{"rendered":"The Court\u2019s natural gas decision by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has led some to question whether it is appropriate for government officials to question decisions of the court.\n\nTo an American observer, it is the attempt to prohibit political criticism of the court that most threatens democracy and runs the risk of turning the rule of law into a rule of judges.\u00a0The legitimacy of such criticism can be seen from the very form that judicial decisions take. When courts in countries with Anglo-American legal traditions decide even routine cases, they issue written opinions.\nThese opinions provide, in detail, the explanations for the court\u2019s ruling. Why is this necessary? After all, the opposing parties have already set out at great length the reasons for their respective positions to prevail.\n\nWhy should the court not simply point to the winner? It is because the force of an opinion of the court derives from its logic and reasoning, from how well it follows prior cases and existing law. Opinions are published because the government and public are not supposed to meekly nod and accept the court\u2019s decisions.\n\nThe requirement of revealing their reasoning presupposes the legitimacy of criticizing decisions based on their rationale, or lack thereof.\n\nAll this is even more relevant for the Israeli Supreme Court, which has given itself the power to negate the action of elected governments even without any written constitution, based on general principles like \u201creasonableness.\u201d\n\nIn other Western democracies, the independence of the courts is part of a system of checks and balances \u2013 where the courts check the political branches and vice versa. Such checks include the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty that keeps courts from overturning certain laws, or the ability of the government to appoint the judges.\n\nIn Israel, none of these checks are available. Indeed, political criticism is perhaps the only check there is, and it is minor and ineffective.\n\nYet in the United States, criticizing the court is not only considered legitimate, it plays a major role in political argument.\n\nIndeed, President Barack Obama criticized a Supreme Court campaign finance decision in his most important annual speech, the State of the Union Address, with the justices seated before him. Vice President Joe Biden called the decision \u201coutrageous\u201d and \u201cdead wrong.\u201d President Obama even called for changing the Constitution to override Supreme Court decisions.\n\nMinister Shaked\u2019s counterpart in the United States, the attorney general, has also had occasion to sharply criticize the court. After loosing a case in the Supreme Court about voting rules two years ago, Attorney General Eric Holder released a statement calling the case \u201cwrongly decided,\u201d a \u201cstep backward\u201d and \u201ccontrary to our fundamental values.\u201d No one thought these sharp words endangered the rule of law.\n\nThus the criticism of the justice minister for criticizing the court fundamentally threatens what little there is left of checks and balances in the Israeli system.\n\nNowhere is criticism of the court more warranted than in the gas decision. Nothing in Israeli law bars such long-term commercial arrangements.\n\nIndeed, price guarantees twice and even three times the length of the ones in the gas deal are commonly made by other countries with fossil resources.\n\nThe court invoked a general notion \u2013 that is, one that it made up \u2013 that a government couldn\u2019t pledge a future course of action that will have the affect of limiting the choices of future governments. Yet this is what most international treaties do. Even mundane decisions about government employees fundamentally limit the choice set of future governments.\n\nIndeed, the court\u2019s holding is as much a \u201cdiscovery\u201d as the country\u2019s undersea natural gas \u2013 only its value is negative.\n\n \n\nThe article was first published in the Jerusalem Post<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nowhere is criticism of the court more warranted than in the gas decision. Nothing in Israeli law bars such long-term commercial arrangements.","protected":false},"featured_media":9205,"template":"","article-category":[525],"custom-tags":[556,532,557,558,546],"ppma_author":[60],"class_list":["post-9270","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article-category-publications","custom-tags-ayelet-shaked","custom-tags-court","custom-tags-gas","custom-tags-op-ed","custom-tags-supreme-court"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs it wrong to critique decisions by the Israel Supreme Court? - kohelet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is it wrong to critique decisions by the Israel Supreme Court? - kohelet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nowhere is criticism of the court more warranted than in the gas decision. Nothing in Israeli law bars such long-term commercial arrangements.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kohelet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Kohelet.org.il\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Israel_Supreme_Court.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@koheletforum\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/\",\"name\":\"Is it wrong to critique decisions by the Israel Supreme Court? - kohelet\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Israel_Supreme_Court.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-01T10:28:34+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Israel_Supreme_Court.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Israel_Supreme_Court.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":533},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is it wrong to critique decisions by the Israel Supreme Court?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/\",\"name\":\"\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05dd \u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05dd \u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-\u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea-\u05e2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea-SVG.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-\u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea-\u05e2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea-SVG.svg\",\"width\":292,\"height\":459,\"caption\":\"\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05dd \u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Kohelet.org.il\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/koheletforum\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is it wrong to critique decisions by the Israel Supreme Court? - kohelet","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is it wrong to critique decisions by the Israel Supreme Court? - kohelet","og_description":"Nowhere is criticism of the court more warranted than in the gas decision. Nothing in Israeli law bars such long-term commercial arrangements.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/","og_site_name":"kohelet","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Kohelet.org.il\/","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":533,"url":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Israel_Supreme_Court.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@koheletforum","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/","name":"Is it wrong to critique decisions by the Israel Supreme Court? - kohelet","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Israel_Supreme_Court.jpg","datePublished":"2016-05-01T10:28:34+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Israel_Supreme_Court.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Israel_Supreme_Court.jpg","width":800,"height":533},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/is-it-wrong-to-critique-decisions-by-the-israel-supreme-court\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is it wrong to critique decisions by the Israel Supreme Court?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/","name":"\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05dd \u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#organization","name":"\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05dd \u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea","url":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-\u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea-\u05e2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea-SVG.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-\u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea-\u05e2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea-SVG.svg","width":292,"height":459,"caption":"\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05dd \u05e7\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Kohelet.org.il\/","https:\/\/x.com\/koheletforum"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/9270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-category?post=9270"},{"taxonomy":"custom-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/custom-tags?post=9270"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=9270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}