Overview

Israel’s Supreme Court is the most powerful in the democratic world. But how did a handful of unelected judges come to hold such sway over a nation’s laws, politics, and future? In Rogue Justice, Israeli-American attorney Yonatan Green recounts the Court’s extraordinary rise - and the bitter controversy it has unleashed. Through close analysis of landmark rulings, novel doctrines, and the structural features of Israel’s legal system, Green traces the Court’s ascent from a modest judicial institution to the central arbiter of Israel’s political and social disputes. Revealing how judicial supremacy came to dominate Israeli governance, the book situates Israel’s constitutional crisis within broader global debates of pressing concern for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers alike. As Israel faces a new constitutional showdown, Rogue Justice is an urgent and accessible guide to the struggle over law, democracy, and power in the Jewish state.

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9781680533132

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Reviews

""Yonatan Green has put together a towering achievement in his relentless, astute, and readable dissection of Israel's Supreme Court, and its impact on Israel's politics and culture. Largely the brainchild of Justice Aharon Barak, that Court uniquely asserts undue control over all Israeli affairs, domestic and foreign. In gripping detail, Green first traces the origins of this astounding transformation. He then explains why it poses a threat to Israel's future; and, sadly why it has become so difficult to dislodge. A masterpiece."" - Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, where he serves as a Director of the Classical Liberal Institute. He has served as the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution since 2000. Epstein is also the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law Emeritus and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago. ""Yonatan Green's engrossing exposé of the Israeli judicial system is of obvious importance to Israelis. But it is also of enormous importance to Americans. It's a case study in the pathologies of judicial supremacy in a liberal legal order that sincerely believes in human rights, but is lacking a written constitution to keep its judges in their lane. The practical result is a true juristocracy in the guise of being a parliamentary democracy. This book is simply a must read for Americans who take for granted the blessings of their own Constitution."" - Randy E. Barnett is the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law, at Georgetown University, where he directs the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. His books include Our Republican Constitution: Securing the Liberty and Sovereignty of We the People. ""Rogue Justice by Yonatan Green presents a compelling and incisive analysis of Israel's distinctive legal system and the profound transformations it has undergone over the years. With intellectual breadth and analytical depth, Green skillfully integrates comparative legal perspectives and illuminates the mechanisms through which Israel's judiciary consolidated its power. These include a distinctive method of interpretation, the disregard of statutory provisions, the strategic composition of judicial panels in pivotal cases, and even the instrumental use of criminal law to further the objectives of the legal elite. Rogue Justice is an essential contribution to the study of Israeli law and understanding its politics. It offers not only a rich account of the legal system's evolution, but also a sobering reflection on the political and institutional consequences of unrestrained judicial activism. Green's work is indispensable for anyone seeking to understand the current tensions between Israel's judiciary, the A-G and its other branches of government."" - Daniel Friedmann is a former Professor (Emeritus) of Law and Dean at the Tel Aviv University Law School, and served as Israel's Minister of Justice. ""Anyone who would understand the disputes over judicial power and selection that continue to divide Israeli society should read Rogue Justice - Yonatan Green's painstaking treatment of both subjects. He shows how it came to be that Israel's Supreme Court recognizes only its own view of what is ""reasonable"" as the standard for weighing challenges to action by the country's democratically chosen legislature and prime minister, and controls as well the selection of that court's own members. This is a vital and timely book."" - Michael B. Mukasey is a former U.S. Attorney General and a former U.S. District Judge. ""Israel's Supreme Court, as Yonatan Green shows, has set itself up as a national conscience, not only vetoing enacted statutes, but also military policies, Cabinet appointments, even constitutional amendments, in rulings with only the most fleeting or tangential connection to formally established law. Green shows in detail how this has happened and how far the Israeli pattern strays from judicial authority in any other Western-style democracy. This careful, well documented study provides eye-opening background on debates about judicial reform in Israel."" - Jeremy Rabkin is a Professor Emeritus of Law at the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University.

""Rogue Justice presents a compelling and incisive analysis of Israel's distinctive legal system and the profound transformations it has undergone over the years. With intellectual breadth and analytical depth, Green skillfully integrates comparative legal perspectives and illuminates the mechanisms through which Israel's judiciary consolidated its power. Yonatan Green's book is an essential contribution to the study of Israeli law and understanding its politics and indispensable for anyone seeking to understand the current tensions between Israel's judiciary and its other branches of government."" - Daniel Friedmann, Professor Emeritus of Law and Dean, Tel Aviv University Law School, and former Israeli Minister of Justice ""Anyone who would understand the disputes over judicial power and selection that continue to divide Israeli society should read Rogue Justice, Yonatan Green's painstaking treatment of both subjects. This is a vital and timely book."" - Michael B. Mukasey, former Attorney General of the United States and U.S. District Judge ""Yonatan Green has put together a towering achievement in his relentless, astute, and readable dissection of Israel's Supreme Court, and its impact on Israel's politics and culture ... A masterpiece."" - Richard A. Epstein, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, New York University School of Law and Director of the Classical Liberal Institute ""Yonatan Green's engrossing exposé is a case study in the pathologies of judicial supremacy in a liberal legal order that sincerely believes in human rights but is lacking a written constitution to keep its judges in their lane. This book is simply a must read for Americans who take for granted the blessings of their own Constitution."" - Randy E. Barnett, Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law and Director of the Center for the Constitution, Georgetown University

Author Information

Yonatan Green is an Israeli-American attorney, most recently a Fellow with the Georgetown University Center for the Constitution in Washington, D.C. Born and raised in Israel to parents from the United States and the United Kingdom, Yonatan obtained a degree in Law and Communications from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem before qualifying to practice law in Israel and in the State of New York. He has worked in private practice, at major tech firm Mobileye, and was co-founder and Executive Director of the Jerusalem-based Israel Law & Liberty Forum, inspired by the Federalist Society. His work in English and Hebrew has been published in a variety of academic, popular and media platforms, and has been cited by the Israeli Supreme Court.

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