Hypocrisy: Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid Meets Radical Judicial Reformer Jerry Nadler

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, who has led protests against judicial reform in his country, flew to the U.S. Monday to meet with Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who has proposed the most radical reforms in U.S. history.

על רקע מאמצי ההידברות בבית הנשיא: ראש האופוזיציה יאיר לפיד נחת לפני זמן קצר בארה"ב, שם יקיים פגישה עם יו"ר ועדת החוקה של הקונגרס, ג'רי נדלר

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) April 10, 2023

As Breitbart News and others reported almost exactly two years ago, Nadler, who was then the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, unveiled a legislative proposal to “pack” the U.S. Supreme Court — and give it a left-wing majority — by adding four new justices, whose seats would be filled by President Joe Biden.

Nadler did that despite the fact that President Biden had appointed a commission to study the idea first. (The commission later warned that court-packing had “uncertain” benefits.)

Not only did Nadler propose expanding the Court from nine seats — which it has had for over 150 years — to 13 seats, but he also demanded the Senate abolish the filibuster, a key minority protection, to do it.

“The American people have had enough. To restore power to the people, we must expand the Supreme Court,” Nadler said, claiming that Republicans had politicized the courts.

His legislation, the Judiciary Act of 2021, is a blunt one-paragraph proposal that reads: “Section 1 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘a Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of whom shall constitute a quorum’ and inserting ‘a Chief Justice of the United States and twelve associate justices, any eight of whom shall constitute a quorum’.” It has yet to pass, though Nadler still backs it.

Earlier this year, without a hint of irony, Nadler led Jewish Democrats in Congress in opposing judicial reform in Israel, warning that it “could undermine Israeli democracy and … civil rights and religious freedoms.”

Lapid has used similar terminology, claiming that judicial reforms — which largely parallel existing U.S. law — would destroy Israel’s democracy, even though they would make the courts more accountable to the legislature.

Lapid’s trip appears to be an effort to use pressure from outside Israel to affect negotiations between the government and the opposition over judicial reform, which Prime Minister Netanyahu paused to allow for talks.

In recent days, Lapid has continued to trash Netanyahu, even after receiving a security briefing from him.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.