The Chicago-based Decalogue Society of Lawyers is America’s oldest and largest Jewish lawyers society. A principal purpose of the Decalogue Society is to “Foster the traditions and ideals of American democracy and to express support for the State of Israel.” The Decalogue Society of Lawyers recognizes that lawyers play a special role in preserving democracy here in Chicago, the United States, the State of Israel, and throughout the diaspora.
The Decalogue Society of Lawyers has a deep respect for and appreciation of Israel’s commitment to the rule of law, not the rule of individuals, but the rule of law. In the words of Israel’s President Herzog, “The democratic foundations of Israel, including the justice system and human rights and freedoms, are sacred, and we must protect them and the values expressed in the Declaration of Independence.” Israel’s legal system may differ in detail from America’s, but the overriding themes of liberty and justice are identical.
The State of Israel is now considering changing laws that include, but are not limited to, (1) giving the governing coalition, the government, effective control over who are elected as new justices to the Israel Supreme Court, (2) requiring an 80% majority of the Supreme Court, rather than a simple majority, to declare a new law as “unconstitutional,” (3) exempting new “constitutional” laws from judicial review altogether, (4) allowing the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, by simple majority, to immunize any laws adopted by it from judicial review, and (5) allowing the Knesset, by simple majority, to overturn a judicial declaration of unconstitutionality.
The proposed changes to Israel’s laws weakening judicial review and granting the Knesset the power to be the sole judge of the constitutionality of its own legislation would undermine the ‘checks and balances’ that are essential to a functioning democracy. For those reasons the Decalogue Society of Lawyers is opposed to the proposed changes.