A clandestine undertaking on behalf of Israel, the Jets and the Jews.

 
Harriet Miers, Nannies and Israel's Supreme Court

1. The nomination of Harriet Miers and the not so quiet assurances to the Christian right about her religion represent everything that is wrong about the Bush Administration. Nothing I will post will add substantively to what so many others have already said.

2. In Bush's defense, however, he clearly felt that he needed to nominate a woman to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Given what Judge Kimba Wood and Zoe Baird went through in 1993 when President Clinton nominated each of them to be Attorney General, it is obviously quite difficult to find many women who could get past the question of whether they have ever paid a babysitter "off the books." The LA Times has reported that the Bush Administration first approached several women who declined to be considered for the Supreme Court vacancy before turning to Miers. I have little doubt that the nanny issue was a primary reason for the refusal of these women to be candidates. Miers, in contrast, is not married and has no children.

3. In the U.S., when a President tries to make an appointment to a crony, the media goes crazy, and the confirmation is in serious doubt.

This is quite a contrast to Israel, where the selection process of justices to the Supreme Court is a complete farce. In Israel, Chief Justice Barak and Israel's Justice Minister get together to nominate judges to the Supreme Court. Then the nine members of the judicial selection committee (one of whom is Barak himself and two others of whom are other sitting Justices) - also owning their place on that committee at least in part to Barak - agree to confirm the new judge.

Last year, Hebrew University law professor Ruth Gavison, considered to be among the best legal minds in the country, was nominated to the Israeli Supreme Court. Unfortunately for Gavison, she is also a longtime critic of Barak's extreme interventionist judicial approach, as well as of the selection process for new judges.

So, is this a scandal in Israel? Does the media express outrage?

Not exactly. Instead, as Evelyn Gordon wrote in The Jerusalem Post, Israel's media takes all this for granted. As Gordon points out, after the nominations of Gavison and of Edna Arbel, a Barak crony, Haaretz wrote:

"Gavison boasts a splendid academic career, with a focus on human rights and public activity. Considered a brilliant jurist, an independent thinker ... Chances of being chosen: Nil." The reason? "Gavison is known for her criticism of [Supreme Court President] Aharon Barak's judicial approach; thus the low probability of her appointment."

In contrast, regarding Arbel, Haaretz wrote:

"Legal circles express doubts as to Arbel's suitability."

Not surprisingly, Barak blocked Gavison's appointment, while Edna Arbel is now Supreme Court Justice Arbel.
posted on 10/14/2005