The High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction against the incapacitation law that it wouldn’t apply immediately, and a hearing on the injunction will expand the bench to eleven justices, the court spokesperson said on Sunday.
The court order didn’t say when the law would come into effect or until when the injunction would apply.
A new hearing will be held on September 28. Respondents will have until September 14 to submit arguments that the incapacitation law, which changed the conditions for when a prime minister can be declared unfit for service, shouldn’t have delayed application. Petitioners will have until September 20 to submit their own arguments.
The bench was expanded to eleven from the three justices that presided over the incapacitation law hearing on Thursday.
High Court President Esther Hayut, Vice President Uzi Vogelman, and Justice Yitzhak Amit had heard arguments for striking down the incapacitation law over it being a personal law that abused the Knesset’s constitutional authority to improve Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal situation.
SUPREME COURT President Esther Hayut attends a conference in Haifa, in January. Would the Supreme Court nullify Knesset legislation as readily today as it did six months ago? It should be clear to all that it will not, says the writer. (credit: SHIR TOREM/FLASH90)MQG claims amendment was passed to help Netanyahu
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG), one of the petitioners that claimed that the amendment to one of Israel’s quasi-constitutional basic laws had been passed to protect Netanyahu from potential fallout of violating his corruption trial conflict of interest agreement, welcomed the court’s decision.
“Regretfully, in the past year personal legislation has become a constant procedure in the Knesset — which time and time again amends and changes basic laws in order to adapt to the momentary needs of those accused of crimes and convicted criminals,” said MQG. “We welcome the decision of the honorable court, which is trying with its meager powers to preserve the democratic rules of the game in Israel, while preserving the dignity of the Knesset, which has long since failed to preserve its own dignity.”
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