Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron announced today that he will make an unprecedented challenge to become the court's president and that his candidacy, "is not dependent on the structure and composition of the (judicial selection) committee."
Elron is challenging the seniority tradition by which the longest serving justice on the Supreme Court has in the past become president. The announcement by Elron supports the government's policy of wanting to appoint a justice of its own choosing rather than Justice Isaac Amit, who is expected to be appointed as the longest-serving judge, and is considered a liberal, after current president Justice Esther Hayut retires later this year. Following his announcement, Hayut announced that Elron will not participate in hearings on the demand to convene the Committee for Judicial Selection to choose judges and in his stead another justice will be appointed.
A Supreme Court President is chosen by at least five votes in the nine-member committee. At the moment it seems that the possibility of this being achieved is very low. It should be noted that the law does not determine what is the majority required to appoint the Supreme Court President, since until today the presidents were appointed according to the seniority system. An increased majority of 7 out of 9 is required to appoint a Supreme Court judge and a majority of 5 out of 9 (ordinary majority) is required to appoint the other judges. In this situation, the accepted interpretation is that an ordinary majority will be required to appoint the president.
At present the members of the Committee for Judicial Selection are Minister of Justice Yariv Levin, Supreme Court President Justice Esther Hayut, Justice Isaac Amit, Justice Noam Solberg, MK Karine Elharrar (Yesh Atid), MK Yitzhak Kroizer (Otzma Yehudit), and two members representing the Israel Bar Association. The cabinet has not yet appointed an additional minister to represent the government.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 30, 2023.
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