The evolution of Israel’s Constitution

By Leonardo Pierdominici

 

This paper seeks to provide an up-to-date analysis of the historical role and of the current modalities of Israeli constitutional adjudication. Its drafting was inspired by a recent judgement given by the Israeli Supreme Court that, in its capacity as High Court of Justice, for the first time fully invalidated a law challenged by the applicants as unconstitutional.
This is the first new case of judicial review of legislation issued by the Israeli Supreme Court in its new composition under the presidency of Justice Beinisch, after a period of clashes between the powers of the state and of apparent self-restraint on part of the Court. It is easy to see, both from a historical analysis and from the reasoning given in the judgement, the importance of the new case’s ‘systemic’ consequences and its implications for the general constitutional architecture, in the context of a legal system that is still  “in search” of a constitution.