Join Us on 9/28 for a Foreign and Comparative Law Webinar on Israel’s Legal Reforms | In Custodia Legis (original) (raw)

Please join us on September 28, 2023, at 2 p.m. EDT for our next foreign, comparative, and international law webinar titled, “Israel’s Legal Reforms.” This webinar is the latest installment in the Law Library’s Foreign and Comparative Law Webinar Series.

Please register here.

On January 4, 2023, Israel’s Minister of Justice Yariv Levin introduced a comprehensive plan for an overhaul of the Israeli judiciary. The four elements of the initial state of the reforms, according to Levin, would include a limitation clause that would restrict the ability of the courts, and especially the Supreme Court, to conduct judicial review of Knesset (Israel’s unicameral parliament) legislation. It would also provide the government control over the selection of judges; cancel the ‘standard of unreasonableness’ used for evaluation of alleged administrative corruption; and transform the attorney general and ministerial legal advisors into political appointees. The proposed reforms are strongly opposed by the President of Israel’s Supreme Court and by the Attorney General and have triggered a fierce debate and massive public protests.

This webinar will provide an overview of the constitutional framework in Israel, the system of checks and balances, and the current law regulating the judicial branch. The webinar will address the objectives of the proposed reforms, their main components, and their possible impact on the legal system. Information on the current status of the reforms will similarly be provided.

The webinar will be presented by Ruth Levush, senior foreign law specialist in the Global Legal Research Directorate of the Law Library of Congress. Ruth conducts research on Israeli domestic law, as well as comparative and international law, for the U.S. Congress, executive agencies, and the U.S. judiciary. Her work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, and her reports have been admitted into evidence as expert testimony by various U.S. federal courts. Ruth previously served as a special assistant to Justice Aharon Barak, former president of Israel’s Supreme Court, and practiced law in Israel as an attorney, both in government and in private practice. She holds a Master of Comparative Law (American practice) from The George Washington University Law School and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from Tel Aviv University Law School. Ruth is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and was admitted to the Israeli Bar.

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