Can the U.S. Supreme Court take a page out of Israel’s Supreme Court justices who courageously stood in the breach to salvage Israel’s democracy in a recent unprecedented ruling that’s sure to rile lots of political feathers on the right?

How about the U.S. Supreme Court just following the lead of the Brazilian court justices who’ve barred the former right-wing populist Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro from seeking office again until 2030 for abuse of power, after he made unfounded claims about Brazil’s voting system ahead of 2022 elections?

As per a 1/1/ 2024 CNN report, “Israel’s Supreme Court deals huge blow to Netanyahu, but one he may have to swallow” by Elliott Gotkine:

“Israel’s Supreme Court issued a historic ruling. In an 8-7 decision, it struck down a controversial amendment to a Basic Law that removed the court’s own power to quash government decisions on the grounds of “reasonableness.”

“The decision was unprecedented: never before had the court thrown out one of Israel’s Basic Laws, which act as an informal constitution, or an amendment to one. It did so, it said, because of the “severe” and “unprecedented” blow the law posed to the core characteristic of Israel as a democratic state. And so, the court will once again have the power to act against government decisions, as it did when it prevented a convicted tax fraudster from serving in cabinet.”

It’s a big deal that Israel’s Supreme Court has thwarted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with his right-wing coalition cohorts’ full throttle play to overhaul Israel’s judiciary system in 2023. This occurred soon after Israel’s governing extremists managed to win an election, whereupon they resurrected the alleged corrupt political life of Mr. Netanyahu by inviting him to lead in enacting about 100 new laws to allegedly reform its judiciary.

This action of attempting to move Israel’s 75-year-old democracy into an autocracy, sparked numerous huge mass protests, leading to the reversal of the Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s dismissal because he had dared to oppose Netanyahu’s judicial reforms. Due to all the opposing voices, all of the proposed new laws ended up being suspended except for one, which came under review by the Israeli Supreme Court.

Here’s the good and bad news resulting from Israel’s Supreme Court ruling against the prime minister’s judicial reform proposal. The good news is that Prime Minister Netanyahu with his extreme right coalition partners’ hold on power has a time limit, especially with their popularity polls tanking. The bad news is that these same governing right-wingers have nothing to lose by extending the 2023 Israel-Hamas war, for as long as possible. And these are the same extreme-right malcontents who’ve been wanting to end the presence of Palestinians within Israel, like forever.

The following articles are about Israel’s Supreme Court’s recent ruling.

As per the January 1, 2024 Reuter’s report, “Israel’s Supreme Court strikes down disputed law that limited court oversight” by Ari Rabinovitch:

Excerpts:

 “Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday (January 1, 2024) struck down a highly disputed law passed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government that rolled back some of the high court’s power and sparked months of nationwide protests.”

“The law was part of a broader judicial overhaul proposed by Netanyahu and his coalition of religious and nationalist partners which caused a deep rift in Israel and concern over the country’s democratic principles among Western allies.”

“Monday’s (January 1, 2024) court decision could test the cohesion of an emergency government formed to manage the war against Hamas, which includes hardline proponents like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and critics of the judicial overhaul such as centrist Benny Gantz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.””

“Smotrich dismissed the decision as “extreme and divisive”, echoing the bitter divisions that marked Israeli politics in the months before the deadly Hamas rampage through southern Israel on Oct. 7.”

“The new legislation brought before the court had removed one, but not all, of the tools the Supreme Court has for quashing government and ministers’ decisions. It took away the court’s ability to void such decisions that it deemed “unreasonable”.

“Twelve of 15 justices ruled that it was within the court’s parameters to strike down quasi-constitutional “basic laws”. A smaller majority of 8 ruled to nullify this specific basic law, which the court said “causes severe and unprecedented harm to the core characteristics of Israel as a democratic state.”

“Some Israeli officials have acknowledged that the internal divisions caused by the judicial overhaul – which seeped into the military and prompted Netanyahu to temporarily fire Gallant, who had called to halt the reforms – may have factored into Hamas’ decision to carry out its Oct. 7 killing spree.”

“The Supreme Court, according to its summary of the case, said the government in passing the amendment to the basic law “completely revoked the possibility of carrying out judicial review of the reasonableness of decisions made by the government, the prime minister, and the ministers.”

“The court held that the amendment causes severe and unprecedented harm to the core characteristics of Israel as a democratic state.”

As per the January 1, 2024 Guardian report, “Israel supreme court strikes down Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul law” by Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum in Jersusalem:

Excerpts:

“Israel’s supreme court has overturned a law at the heart of Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial judicial overhaul project, potentially plunging the country into political crisis as it fights a war in Gaza and faces the spectre of regional escalation.”

“The judges ruled on Monday (January 1, 2024) by a slim majority of eight to seven to throw out a law that curtailed the court’s own powers, saying it would severely damage Israel’s democracy.”

“In July, after seven months of debate, the government passed a law scrapping the “reasonableness” clause that allows Israel’s unelected supreme court to overrule government decisions.”

“The ruling to throw out that legislation, made in a historic first full sitting of the 15-member court, could reignite tensions that roiled Israel over the summer and split the unity government in the wake of Hamas’s 7 October attacks.”

“The judicial overhaul project led to months of mass protests that brought Netanyahu’s government under domestic and international pressure. It widened already deep religious, ethnic and class divides in Israel, threw the military into chaos and damaged both its currency – the shekel – and relations with allies. The US president, Joe Biden, at the time was critical of the plans.”

“Attorney Gil Gan-Mor, who represented 38 human rights organisations in a joint petition challenging the law, welcomed the ruling, saying it had thrown out “an attempt to infringe upon the human rights of every Israeli citizen and thwart judicial oversight of government decisions.”

“Netanyahu did not immediately respond to the decision, but his Likud party said it went against a national desire “for unity” during wartime.”

“It’s unfortunate that the supreme court chose to bring a ruling at the heart of the social dispute in Israel precisely when IDF soldiers on the right and the left are fighting and risking their lives in the campaign,” the party said in a statement.”

“The former president of the supreme court Esther Hayut, one of the judges who backed the ruling, argued the war made the ruling even more urgent, as it concerned the core principles for which Israeli soldiers were risking their lives.”

“The activist group Kaplan Force, one of the main organisers of protests against the legislation, welcomed the ruling as “a victory for the citizens of Israel” in the battle for democracy.”