On 21 February 2012, the High Court ruled that the Tal Law was unconstitutional by 6 votes to 3. Outgoing High Court President Dorit Beinisch who supported the ruling wrote in her opinion that “apart from a certain improvement in the implementation of the law, one cannot say that the law’s means achieved their goals, and it seems that certain blocs influence its potential to be fully fulfilled. That being the case, one cannot but determine that the law is unconstitutional... Originally the legislation harboured the hope that the law would launch a social process that without coercion would encourage ultra-Orthodox people to serve in the military or take part in civilian national service. These hopes were dashed.” In a minority opinion, incoming president Asher Grunis who was among those who opposed the ruling said that “it would have been best if the court didn’t have to deal with the issue; if it had been left in the public sphere beyond the court’s jurisdiction.” In his opinion, “the fact that this court dealt again and again with the issue of Haredi military service, without any progress being made as a result of the court’s ruling, does not add much to the standing of the High Court.” The court argued that the Law had failed to encourage Haredim to serve in the military or take part in civilian national service ("Sherut Leumi") without coercion. Defense Minister Ehud Barak welcomed the ruling; in the past he had expressed the view that only 2,000 to 3,000 Torah experts should be granted exemption. Shas and United Torah Judaism, two Haredi political parties, issued a joint statement rejecting any discussion of changes to the status of the tens of thousands of Haredi yeshiva students who do not serve in the army or perform civilian national service. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the government would formulate a new bill that would guarantee a more equal sharing of the burden by all parts of Israeli society. The system in place since 2002 was regarded as unfair by secular Jews, but there was no obvious alternative.