Law’s Struggle for Dignity
In the massive protests sweeping Israel this year, the pioneer of the Supreme Court's authority to strike down legislation has become a focus of attention, underscoring what is at stake in Western democracies more broadly. If populist autocrats succeed in reducing democracy to majority rule, the first victim will be human dignity.
LONDON – One telling development in the popular demonstrations against the Israeli government’s proposed judicial reforms has been the concentration of protesters on a small side street in Tel Aviv. Here one finds the home of the Israeli Supreme Court’s former president, Aharon Barak, now a target of both praise and obloquy, depending on one’s political allegiances.