White House says its ‘unfortunate’ the Israeli government passed judicial reform bill without consensus

The United States has been following the dramatic events unfolding in Israel following the government’s passing of the ‘Reasonableness Standard Bill’ on Monday.

The law that limits the nation's High Court to rule by an arbitrary standard of ‘reasonableness,’ received the support of all 64 members of the coalition. The opposition boycotted the vote after a last-minute compromise attempt failed. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “It is unfortunate that the vote today took place with the slimmest possible majority," adding that the Biden administration believes major democratic changes require a consensus.  

“We urge Israeli leaders to work toward a consensus-based approach through political dialogue,” Jean-Pierre stated. 

Liberal U.S. media outlets covered the Israeli legislation and protests extensively.

The Washington Post offered the headline: “Far-right government in Israel votes to limit Supreme Court powers” and CNN wrote that the law is “stripping Supreme Court of power to block government decisions.”

Meanwhile, American conservative pundits on social media highlighted what they see as the Biden administration’s double standard, given that, in the U.S., it is the Democratic party that frequently attacks the U.S. Supreme Court and calls to expand it. 

Fox News host Mark Levin took to Twitter, writing, “While Biden is relentlessly trashing our Supreme Court and the conservative justices, and is defying the court on his student loan forgiveness ‘get around,’ he has the temerity to tell Israel’s prime minister and their parliament not to pass legislation that stops their rogue judicial oligarchy from seizing power from the voters. Biden is an autocrat and his party and party-media cheer him on.”

Political commentator and filmmaker Dinesh D'souza tweeted: “I’m thrilled #Netanyahu is reining in Israel’s Supreme Court. I’m equally thrilled the Democrats have no power to rein in our Supreme Court. Is this contradictory? Only if you’re dumb enough to believe that there’s some neutral principle (“Never rein in any court!) at work here.” 

Daily Wire host and co-founder Ben Shapiro posted: “The current Israeli government had to pass the judicial reform. It is INCREDIBLY mild: it merely says that the judiciary cannot simply declare a law ‘unconstitutional’ in a land with no written constitution on the basis of it being ‘unreasonable.’” 

He continued, “Imagine the Supreme Court in the United States routinely striking down popularly-passed legislation without citing anything but their own view of whether such legislation is ‘reasonable.’ No legal arguments, no citations of a written text, no authority. Nothing. That's the situation currently.”

Regarding the nationwide protests against the judicial reform, Shapiro added: “If the elected government stops its policy because reservists say they won't volunteer if it passes and financial and union powers say, they will help shut down the economy, they will incentivize endless societal shutdowns. The same means of anti-democratic shutdown will be used on all future legislation and all future governments that aren't in line with such protesters, endangering Israel's economy and security.”

“The absurdity of morons like Thomas Friedman calling on Joe Biden to step in – the same Joe Biden currently claiming that the US Supreme Court is undemocratic and undermining its own legitimacy – is apparent. It's more about Democrats' increasing antipathy for Israel than anything reality-based."