[rabidonrails]

Let's level set here a bit. There is no coup d'etat. Here's the definition of a coup: _a sudden, violent, and unlawful seizure of power from a government_ that is not what's happening here on either side.

Instead here's a quick review of what's happening. Currently the Israeli supreme court can strike down laws based on what they deem "reasonability." As you might guess, this is a pretty strong power for the court to hold because it's subjective. The new legislation would remove much of this power.

Those for this change argue that this is a good move because elected officials should be working for the people that they represent, not a court that gets to unilaterally make decisions.

The opposition argues that this power being handed to the elected officials without the oversight of the court's reasonability power and thus might allow bad actors to take additional control and do things that don't represent a substantial, but minority, population.

I'm not arguing for either side, but calling this a coup is wrong.

[lock-the-spock]

Many countries have similar veto powers for their courts. The exact reasoning of course is different.

But no one elected official working for the court in israel. There is an important difference between a court able to block something and being able to do own legislation (as it does often in the US). The Israeli court was never able to do legislation, only to block the government from going too far in any new direction.

[ctrlp]

Does it not amount to the same thing? Striking down laws (blocking) and finding interpretations that become precedent (making) seem like two sides of the same coin.

[bjourne]

German socialists also described Hitlers rise to power as a "coup" or implied that he "seized" the chancellorship unlawfully. It was too painful for them to admit that so many of their countrymen supported Fascism and that he won a democratic election. I'd imagine botencat is in a very similar situation.

Remember Trump's "Muslim ban"? The US courts declared the law unconstitutional and prevented its implementation. The judicial reform would make it de facto impossible for the Israeli supreme court to strike down whatever crazy stuff the right-wing extremist government comes up with. Death penalty for stone throwers? No problem.