Amit sworn in as new chief justice, PM, justice minister stage unprecedented boycott
New Supreme Court president calls on Justice Minister Levin to end boycott of judiciary; President Herzog slams government, says ‘no place’ in a democracy for such behavior
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
After 17 months without a permanent Supreme Court president and despite the intense opposition of the justice minister, Justice Isaac Amit was sworn in as the head of Israel’s judiciary at a ceremony at the President’s Residence Thursday afternoon.
But the unprecedented absence of the prime minister, the justice minister, and indeed every member of the cabinet underlined how the low-grade constitutional crisis Israel has been suffering over the last two years is still simmering and shows little sign of abating.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin fought the appointment of Amit every step of the way for over a year. After being repeatedly ordered by the Supreme Court, sitting in its capacity as the High Court of Justice, to finally appoint a new president, Levin boycotted the vote itself and has vowed to boycott Amit as head of the court as well.
In restrained remarks Amit delivered after being sworn in on Thursday, the newly installed Supreme Court president called on Levin to end his boycott and restore relations between the two branches of government, insisting that improving the heavily strained relations between the government and the judiciary was for the good of the country.
President Isaac Herzog was more forthright in criticizing the government’s boycott of the proceedings however, saying there was “no place” in a democracy for the different branches of government to shun each other and called for renewed dialogue between the judiciary and the government.
Amit was appointed in January by a vote of the Judicial Selection Committee, which Levin, as chair of the committee, boycotted after the High Court ordered him for a fourth time to hold a vote on appointing a new president.
Levin had refused to hold a vote for a new chief justice since October 2023 when then-Supreme Court president Esther Hayut retired, owing to Levin’s desire to install a conservative to the position rather than the liberal Amit, but lacked the votes on the Judicial Selection Committee to do so.
After nearly a year of such delays, a three-judge panel of the High Court of Justice, not including Amit, ruled in September that although as chairman of the committee, the justice minister has some discretion over when to call a vote, he could not indefinitely refuse to make the appointment, which would have given the minister a veto over the position that the law never intended to grant him.
The High Court ruled at the time that the appointment must be made “in short order,” then gave Levin a firm deadline of January 16 when he failed to do so; provided him with a 10-day extension to January 26 to clarify allegations of misconduct against Amit; and finally ordered him once again to hold the vote on January 26 after rejecting a new request for a further delay.
Levin repeatedly claimed that the High Court’s orders against him, issued by two conservative justices and one liberal, were “unlawful” and illegitimately “expropriated” his authorities over the Judicial Selection Committee as its chairman.
But Levin has effectively been boycotting the head of the judiciary for some eight months after he decided to stop meeting with Amit’s predecessor, Uzi Vogelman back in June 2024, who was serving as acting Supreme Court president at the time.
Levin’s boycott means that key appointments, such as selecting district court presidents and an ombudsman for complaints against judges, cannot be made, while other key administrative necessities for the judiciary will also be gummed up as a result.
Outside the President’s Residence, several dozen demonstrators protested against Amit, with right-wing activists holding posters declaring, “You have no mandate from the people,” while another banner said, “We oppose a legal dictatorship.” Far-right MK Limon Son Har Melech of the Otzma Yehudit party was also present at the demonstration.
The demonstrators blasted music and speeches denouncing Amit and the legal establishment over loudspeakers into the garden of the President’s Residence, where Amit, the serving justices of the Supreme Court, and numerous dignitaries from Israel’s judiciary gathered ahead of the ceremony.
No place for such boycotts in a democracy
Herzog vociferously condemned the attacks on Amit as well as the government’s unprecedented boycott of the proceedings.
“In a democratic country where responsibility to the state is a guiding light, there is no place for boycotts of one branch of government by another, there is no place for overturning the law and custom as cards in political or public strugglers, and certainly there is no place for delegitimizing the president of the Supreme Court who was elected to his position in accordance with the law and the instructions of the law,” said Herzog on Thursday afternoon after Amit was formally sworn in.
But Herzog also addressed the underlying cause of the tensions between the judiciary and the government, the efforts of the latter to restrain through legislation the power of the judiciary, asserting that “change” is “not the enemy of democracy.”
“Not every proposal is a catastrophe, not every compromise is a destruction, not every agenda is a hostile and poisonous agenda,” said Herzog of the government’s efforts to change Israel’s legal system and in apparent criticism of the judiciary’s opposition to all of the changes proposed by the government so far.
But the president also called on the government and the Knesset to begin “an era of cooperation and dialogue between the branches of government… and the beginning of an era of an extended hard, moderation, and a seeking of broad agreement.”
Levin, together with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who previously served as justice minister, has proposed new legislation to change the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee and its judicial appointments mechanism. Sa’ar has said there is little room for dialogue over the proposal’s content, while Levin is seeking to have the legislation passed by the end of the month, although that deadline looks unlikely at present.
Amit called on Levin to end his boycott of the judicial branch and meet with him to restore relations between the judiciary and the government.
The freshly minted chief justice insisted that judicial independence must be protected “at all costs” but added that the judiciary was ready for “dialogue and cooperation” between the branches of government.
Levin has vowed to boycott Amit too, after the court ordered him four times to hold a vote for a new Supreme Court president.
“I call and request again to the justice minister to hold the regular working meetings which have always been customary between the justice minister and the president of the Supreme Court, as is required so that the citizens and residents of the country can continue to receive a quality and effective service from the courts,” said Amit.
Independent judiciary
Referencing what he sees as the role of the judiciary and its head, Amit insisted that, “The core of judicial independence, which is the authority and duty to rule independently, without external influences, without fear, and without authority, other than the authority of the law, must be guarded at all costs.”
He noted that the dialogue between Israel’s branches of government “has known ups and downs,” but said that they must remember that they exist to serve the public.
“Our duty to the public is to strengthen and improve responsible and respectful discourse between the authorities,” said Amit.
“On behalf of the judiciary, I say that we are ready for dialogue, for dialogue and for substantive cooperation, which puts the public and service to the citizen at the forefront of its concerns – and I hope that we will find a helping hand in this context.”
Vogelman also spoke as Amit’s immediate predecessor and told Amit he would have the task of defending the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers in Israel, as he said previous generations of Supreme Court presidents have done.
“It is an inheritance that all Supreme Court presidents and its judges have nurtured and preserved from generation to generation, and it includes commitment to the rule of law, uncompromising defense of human rights, protection of the independence of the judicial branch [of government] and the separation of powers,” said Vogelman.
