After missed deadline, High Court threatens to issue injunction against new method to fire AG

After the government missed a Thursday deadline to reply to a request for an injunction against a new method it seeks to introduce to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, the High Court of Justice said that if a reply is not filed by Sunday morning, it will issue such an injunction.

The government had been told to respond by noon on Thursday. However, not only did the government fail to reply, but it did not even appoint an attorney to represent it in the court case, after receiving approval to be represented by private counsel rather than by the attorney general.

“If a reply isn’t submitted by Sunday at 10 a.m., I will see this as acceptance of, or at least lack of an objection to, the request [for an injunction against its planned new process for firing the attorney general],” wrote Justice Noam Sohlberg in his ruling. “In accordance, an injunction will be issued as requested, without taking a stance on the subject matter of the arguments made in the request.”

The request for an injunction was made by the Movement for Quality Government, which hailed Sohlberg’s decision.

“The fact that the government is fleeing from the court and refraining from presenting its stance is testimony that it has no legal justification for this destructive move,” said the group’s head, Eliad Shraga.

Sohlberg’s ruling came after Bahrav-Miara submitted her response to the court earlier this week, saying the new method for firing her was “fundamentally illegal,” and that it “contradicts the fundamentals of the rules of administrative law, as well as the rulings of the court, including recent ones.”

In March, the government set in motion the process of firing the attorney general through a designated statutory committee. But in June, after it failed to convene a full quorum of that committee, it passed a cabinet resolution establishing a five-member ministerial committee to replace the old panel.

Baharav-Miara’s dismissal hearing in front of the ministerial committee has been scheduled for Monday, July 14.

According to the government resolution, which amended a resolution from 2000, the government can ask a five-member ministerial committee to oversee the removal of the attorney general, rather than consulting the statutory committee, which is made up of legal professionals and public figures.

It said the ministerial committee members, who are selected by the government, can give their recommendation and then pass the decision back to the full cabinet, which would need 75 percent of cabinet ministers to vote in favor of dismissing the attorney general.

The panel comprises Diaspora Affairs Minister Amihai Chikli, who is its chair; Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich; National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir; Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel; and Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli. All five of them have already expressed support for Baharav-Miara’s firing.

The government and the attorney general have been in conflict since the government was sworn in at the end of 2022, with the government accusing her of serially thwarting its policies and actions, and Baharav-Miara accusing the government of acting unlawfully and advancing unconstitutional legislation.