JERUSALEM—Israel’s highest court said Wednesday that it would hear legal challenges in September against a law weakening its power that the country’s parliament passed earlier this week.
Israeli civil society groups and others filed petitions asking the Supreme Court to strike down the law enacted Monday—the first major piece of legislation in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s broader plan to overhaul Israel’s judiciary.
Critics of the overhaul describe it as a blow to democracy, arguing that Israel’s judiciary represents the primary check on the powers of the prime minister and his majority coalition in parliament.
The supporters of Mr. Netanyahu’s government say the law will prevent liberal, unelected judges from interfering with the decisions of elected lawmakers. They also say the court should not be able to rule on a law limiting its own authority.
“To have the court decide its own powers by itself, that’s not separation of powers,” Simcha Rothman, a lawmaker spearheading the overhaul, told The Associated Press. “That’s not democracy.”
The law passed Monday strips the Supreme Court of its power to block government actions and appointments on the basis that they are “unreasonable.”
The Supreme Court did not issue an injunction on Wednesday, as petitioners had asked, but said it would hear challenges to the new law after the Knesset returns from recess in September. It asked the law’s defendants to submit a response at least 10 days before the preliminary hearing.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a good governance group, said in its petition that the law undermines Israel’s core values as a democracy, and that it was passed through a flawed legislative process.
“We will appear in the Supreme Court to defend Israeli democracy and we will do everything we can to stop the coup,” Eliad Shraga, the group’s chairman, said on Wednesday.
Mr. Netanyahu’s allies have vowed to press forward with more judicial changes after the parliamentary recess. Another planned bill would give the parliament control over how judges are appointed.
The opposition party, Yesh Atid, along with pro-democracy groups, have filed a separate petition asking Justice Minister Yariv Levin to convene the powerful committee that picks the nation’s judges.
