Coalition softens changes to judicial appointments method

Simcha Rothman  credit: Noam Moskowitz, Knesset Spokesperson's Office
Simcha Rothman credit: Noam Moskowitz, Knesset Spokesperson's Office

Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chair Simcha Rothman: The proposal will facilitate balance and diversity. Opponents of the reforms have rejected it out of hand.

Yesterday evening, Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairperson MK Simcha Rothman proposed a softer version of the method of choosing Supreme Court judges than in his original plan. Under the revised proposal, the selection committee will have eleven members, six of whom will represent the ruling coalition, and the next two new Supreme Court judges will be appointed by a majority of six committee members. In other words, the coalition will be able to appoint two Supreme Court judges unopposed.

Thereafter, a majority of eight committee members will be required to appoint a Supreme Court judge, and the eight will have to include a judge and a representative of the opposition. The eleven committee members will be: three government ministers; three members of Knesset from the coalition; the president of the Supreme Court and two other judges; and two members of Knesset from the opposition.

The coalition party heads announced at nearly 2 am that they accepted Rothman’s proposal. The legislation changing the composition of the judicial selection committee is due to be completed by the end of current session of the Knesset on April 2.

The remaining legislation in connection with the government’s plans for reforming Israel’s judicial system will be brought before the Knesset in the summer session starting in May. The coalition party heads called on the opposition to use the Knesset recess to enter into "genuine dialogue in order to reach understandings on the legislation to be brought before the Knesset after the recess."

Rothman’s proposed amendment to the existing law will enable the coalition to appoint two judges to the Supreme Court this year, with the retirement from the court of Esther Hayut and Anat Baron this October. After them, the next Supreme Court judge due to retire is Uzi Vogelman, in October 2024. The amendment will enable the coalition to choose the next president of the Supreme Court, and thus control the identity of an additional member of the judicial selection committee.

"The amendment will right a historic wrong: for the first time, the judges will have no automatic veto, which will facilitate balance and diversity in the panel of Supreme Court judges," Rothman said. "The Israel Bar Association will no longer be represented on the committee."

Under Rothman’s original proposal, the coalition would have had five out of nine members of the judicial selection committee, and appointments would have been by a simple majority.

A further change is in the composition of the committee that appoints judges to lower courts. Three judges will sit on the committee: the president of the Supreme Court; the president of one of the District Courts, chosen by the District Court presidents; and the president of a Magistrates Court chosen by the Magistrates Courts presidents. A majority of seven of the committee’s eleven members will be required to make an appointment.

A majority of nine out of eleven committee members will be required to dismiss a judge. The hearings for candidates will take place before the selection committee rather than before the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee as originally proposed.

Opponents of the judicial reforms rejected Rothman’s proposed compromise. The organization of lawyers opposing the reforms said, "They can’t fool us. Any attempt to touch the judicial selection committee has only one aim: to choose judges who will be puppets of the government."

MK Gilad Kariv (Labor), a member of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, said in response to the proposal, "The proposal laid before us is another version of the hostile takeover of the Supreme Court. The proposal will give extreme parties actual control of appointments to the Supreme Court and will turn it into a political battlefield. The heads of the opposition parties should announce that if this legislation is indeed completed by the Passover holiday, there will be no dialogue of the remaining matters."

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 20, 2023.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2023.

Simcha Rothman  credit: Noam Moskowitz, Knesset Spokesperson's Office
Simcha Rothman credit: Noam Moskowitz, Knesset Spokesperson's Office
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