Israeli Supreme Court hears first challenge to Netanyahu's contentious judicial overhaul

Israel’s Supreme Court has begun hearing petitions to strike down a law that curbs its own powers, pushing the country toward a showdown with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government over the first part of its deeply contentious judicial overhaul

Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday opened the first case to look at the legality of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul — deepening a showdown with the far-right government that has bitterly divided the nation and put the country on the brink of a constitutional crisis.

In a sign of the case’s significance, all 15 of Israel’s Supreme Court justices are hearing appeals to the law together for the first time in Israel’s history. A regular panel is made up of three justices, though they sometimes sit on expanded panels. The proceedings were also being livestreamed.

The law, which parliament passed in July, cancels the court’s ability to strike down government decisions it deems to be “unreasonable.” It is the first piece of the wider plan by Netanyahu’s government to weaken the Supreme Court and give more power to the governing coalition.