High Court justices rush back from abroad to hear petitions against ‘reasonableness’

Supreme Court President Esther Hayut and other senior justices cut short an official trip to Germany in order to return home and hold a hearing on petitions against the first piece of legislation from the government’s wide-reaching judicial overhaul.

Hayut was leading a delegation of Israeli justices visiting the German courts and was scheduled to make a speech at an event marking 75 years since the establishment of the State of Israel. The group left Israel on Sunday but is now expected back in the country on Tuesday, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

On Monday, the Knesset passed in a 64-0 vote a bill barring the judiciary from using the “reasonableness” yardstick to invalidate government decisions. A watchdog group then announced that it was immediately filing a petition against the law, and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said he would also challenge the legislation in the courts. READ MORE