Dorit Beinisch

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Dorit Beinisch : biography

February 28, 1942 –

In her rulings, Beinisch emphasized the same principles that she fought for during her public career, together with her belief regarding the role of the Supreme Court in a democratic society to protect human and civil rights, with special attention to the rights of women and children, socially vulnerable populations, and immigrant workers. Beinisch emphasized the importance of judicial review of the activities of the executive branch, including the military, as well as the importance of following the rule of law and the principle of non-discriminatory law enforcement, and preserving every person’s right of access to court.

On January 27, 2010, Beinisch was moderately hurt when a 52-year-old man named Pinchas Cohen hurled his sneaker at her during a hearing on medical marijuana, hitting her between the eyes, breaking her glasses and knocking her off her chair. Cohen was disgruntled with the legal system over a family court decision four years earlier and has a violent history. He was arrested and later apologized for his act, and stated that he hoped she was well.

Biography

Dorit Werba (later Beinisch) was born in Tel Aviv. Her father, Aharon Werba, a civil servant, immigrated to Palestine from Poland in 1933. Her mother, Chava, was a kindergarten teacher in Tel Aviv. Beinisch served in the Israeli Defense Forces, where she reached the rank of lieutenant. She studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, completing her Bachelor of Laws degree (LL.B.) in 1967. Two years later she completed her Master of Laws (LL.M.) summa cum laude at the same university, while apprenticing in the Justice Ministry. In 1964, she married Yeheskell Beinisch, a Jerusalem lawyer. They have two daughters and four grandchildren.

Beinisch was awarded honorary Doctor of Philosophy degrees by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in June 2010, and Ben-Gurion University in May 2012, as well as an honorary Fellowship by "The Interdisciplinary Center", Herzliya. On November 12th, 2012, she was awarded Doctor of Philosophy "honoris causa" degree from the Weizmann Institute of Science. Beinisch was awarded "Doctor of Humane Letters-Honoris Causa"by The "Hebrew Union College"Jerusalem,on November 14th,2012. Dorit Beinisch is a member as an Officer at The French "National Order of the Legion of Honour" since December 17th, 2012. On December 30th,2012,Beinisch was awarded as a knight of The Movement for Quality Government in Israel.On May 8th,2013, Beinisch was awarded "Honorary Citizen of Jerusalem". Justice Beinisch was nominated in May 2013 The Chancellor of the Open University of Israel and chairwoman of its Council .

In 2012, she taught a seminar on national security judging at the Center on Law and Security (CLS) with Prof. Samuel Rascoff at NYU Law as a distinguished global fellow and a senior fellow.