Israel's Supreme Court and Minister of Justice Yariv Levin remain on a collision course after the High Court of Justice instructed Levin to convene the Judicial Selection Committee in order to appoint a new Supreme Court president. However, Levin insists that the order is illegal.
The High Court justices issued an absolute decree and unanimously ruled that the Minister of Justice must fulfil his duty under the Courts Law. He has been instructed to publish a list of candidates for the position of Supreme Court president, within 14 days of the date of the decree, and convene the Judicial Selection Committee to choose a president, after the period of time required by law has passed.
Regarding the selection of judges for the Supreme Court, the High Court of Justice decided not to intervene.
The main opinion in the ruling was written by Justice Yael Willner, which stated that although discretion is given to the Minister of Justice on the question of when the Judicial Selection Committee should be convened, the Minister may take into account his view regarding reaching a broad consensus regarding the appointment. But at the same time, for over a year the Minister has avoided convening the committee for the purpose of electing a president."
The opinion added, "The significance of this policy is to give exclusive and absolute weight to the consideration of reaching a broad consensus regarding the appointment and not giving any weight to the main purpose of the relevant legislation - preventing a situation where there is no permanent Supreme Court president."
Willner's opinion says the policy introduced by Levin, "Changes the mechanism established by law for the election of the Supreme Court president, and goes beyond the provisions of the law." Therefore, despite the sensitivity of the issue and the court's desire to bring it to an end without the need for a judicial decision, "There is no choice but to decide on its merits and rule that the minister's policy is against the law and cannot stand."
Minister of Justice Yariv Levin responded to the ruling by saying that it was a decision that contravened the law. He said, "The instruction handed down a short time ago has no equal in any Western democracy, and did not surprise anyone. The instruction, which is contrary to an express law and was issued in the midst of a serious conflict of interest, constitutes a forceful takeover of the judicial selection committee and usurps the minister's powers contrary to the law."
"The decree is a direct continuation of the improper way appointments are made in the judicial system, as we saw in the case of the appointment of the Attorney General. Precisely because of this, I acted upon the formation of the government to change the situation. With the outbreak of the war, I decided to halt the legislation and deal at this time with issues on which there is broad agreement. However, instead of embracing this decision, it was cynically used by the judges to invalidate a fundamental law, and to intervene in security issues, while showing extreme concern for the conditions of the terrorists."
Levin added, "A president of the Supreme Court, who is appointed by force and improperly, drags down to an even deeper low diminishing trust in the court. I cannot work with a president who is illegally appointed by his friends, and who is not legitimate in the eyes of a huge part of the public. The irresponsible order tramples democracy and the way agreements have been put together in recent months, and pushes Israel backwards."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 9, 2024.
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