Richard Posner's "Enlightened Despot"

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Enlightened Despot is a book review of former Israeli Supreme Court's chief Justice Aharon Barak's book "A Judge in a Democracy", written by US Jurist Richard Posner. The review appeared on TNR. In the review, Posner argues that Barak wrestes control of policy issues from the elected branches and enforces his own values on the Israeli state. Posner famously describes Barak as a "judicial buccaneer". In the second part of the review, Posner argues that Barak's alleged extreme Judicial Activism is evidence to his long withstanding thesis that US Jurists should not rely on foreign court ruling as precedent. Although Posner's review of Barak is generally negative, he acknowledges that Barak's brilliant, and argues that Barak's judicial activism might be necessary for Israel.

The article was much cited in the Israeli press, appearing on the front page of Haaretz, Israel's most important liberal newspaper, as well as being referred to in various legal blogs, both Israeli and international.

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