Menachem Hofnung’s research while affiliated with Hebrew University of Jerusalem and other places

How does the use of judicial framing, a repeated selection of certain features across a large number of related cases, enable courts to be active participants in national immigration policymaking? Previous legal studies have often underestimated the judicial impact on national immigration policies and focused, instead, on courts’ limited intervention in landmark cases. In this article, we show that by repeatedly using a particular judicial framing as part of their daily practice over a large group of legal cases, courts can help form a new national policy related to forced migration without setting any explicit legal precedent that challenges the decisions of the country's security authorities and government ministries. The analysis presented here examines the Israeli High Court of Justice's engagement in Israel's immigration policymaking toward Palestinians who claimed to have worked with Israeli security agencies as collaborators and were fearful of harsh reprisals if they remained in Palestinian autonomous areas. By looking beyond the outcomes of individual cases, our analysis opens another avenue for research on courts’ hidden intervention into national immigration policy through adopting and further developing new legal categories of forced migrants as part of their practice in the national arena.

How do judicial techniques enable courts to have a very effective impact on actual national policy while avoiding making binding decisions? Previous academic studies have focused mostly on the controversial capacity (and willingness) of courts to intervene in a country’s policy through statutory interpretation or authoritative decisions. We show that by refraining from sweeping landmark decisions, courts can have a latent but substantial impact on actual national policy through technical and procedural measures. The case study here is the Israeli immigration policy toward a large group of Palestinian litigants (916 petitions) who claim to be neglected security-related collaborators.

Few countries receive as much attention as Israel and are at the same time as misunderstood. The Oxford Handbook of Israeli Politics and Society brings together leading Israeli and international figures to offer the most wide-ranging treatment available of an intriguing country. It serves as a comprehensive reference for the growing field of Israel studies and is also a significant resource for students and scholars of comparative politics, recognizing that in many ways Israel is not unique, but rather a test case of democracy in deeply divided societies and states engaged in intense conflict. The handbook presents an overview of the historical development of Israeli democracy through chapters examining the country’s history, contemporary society, political institutions, international relations, and most pressing political issues. It outlines the most relevant developments over time while not shying away from the strife both in and around Israel. It presents opposed narratives in full force, enabling readers to make their own judgments.

The Legal Process and the Promise of Justice - edited by Rosann Greenspan May 2019

Cambridge Core - Jurisprudence - The Legal Process and the Promise of Justice - edited by Rosann Greenspan