Rogue Justice: The Rise of Judicial Supremacy in Israel

Israel’s Supreme Court is the most powerful in the democratic world. But how did a handful of unelected judges come to hold such sway over a nation’s laws, politics, and future? In Rogue Justice, Israeli-American attorney Yonatan Green recounts the Court’s extraordinary rise - and the bitter controversy it has unleashed. Through close analysis of landmark rulings, novel doctrines, and the structural features of Israel’s legal system, Green traces the Court’s ascent from a modest judicial institution to the central arbiter of Israel’s political and social disputes. Revealing how judicial supremacy came to dominate Israeli governance, the book situates Israel’s constitutional crisis within broader global debates of pressing concern for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers alike. As Israel faces a new constitutional showdown, Rogue Justice is an urgent and accessible guide to the struggle over law, democracy, and power in the Jewish state.

Yonatan Green is an Israeli-American attorney currently serving as a Fellow of the Georgetown University Center for the Constitution in Washington, D.C. Born and raised in Israel to parents from the United States and the United Kingdom, Yonatan obtained a degree in Law and Communications from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem before qualifying to practice law in Israel and in the State of New York. He has worked in private practice, at the major tech firm Mobileye, and was co-founder and Executive Director of the Jerusalem-based Israel Law & Liberty Forum, inspired by the Federalist Society. His work in English and Hebrew has been published in a variety of academic, popular, and media platforms, and has been cited by the Israeli Supreme Court.