Attorney general knocks Levin-Sa’ar plan as politicizing judge selection, harming democracy
Gali Baharav-Miara warns proposal will turn court appointments into ‘another political arena’; Sa’ar accuses her of ‘fundamental errors’ in trying to torpedo his ‘popular’ bill
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara warned Sunday that the government’s plans to change the way judges are appointed would undermine judicial independence and the separation of powers, harming democracy.
The comments drew immediate blowback from Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar — one of the authors of the plan — who accused the top government lawyer of seeking to raise herself above both parliament and the courts, in the latest volley of a bruising battle between the government and the attorney general.
Writing to Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who has advanced the bill, Baharav-Miara said the legislation greatly increases the influence politicians wield over the appointment process, diluting the voice of legal professionals on the nominations panel.
The legislation, proposed by Sa’ar and Levin, would remove the two representatives of the Israel Bar Association from the nine-member Judicial Selection Committee, and replace them with two lawyers to be chosen by the coalition and opposition, among other changes. It would block the three Supreme Court justices from being to push through a candidate of their choice without the support of at least one politician from each side of the aisle, but would allow politicians to add a justice to the country’s highest court without support from the judges on the panel.
The legislation is part of a compromise reached between Levin and Sa’ar that is meant to soften wide-reaching changes to the judiciary that sparked unprecedented protests when they were proposed by the government in 2023.
Baharav-Miara asserted that the changes will politicize the appointment process and turn it into “another political arena of agreements and disputes between the coalition and opposition.”
“The proposed arrangement casts a heavy political shadow over the judicial system and harms its professionalism, independence and ability to criticize the government,” she wrote.
The dilution of professional representation on the committee and its power in the appointment process, the attorney general continued, sidelines the judges into “observers” and “weakens judicial authority and contravenes the principle of separation of powers.”
This would stymie the judiciary’s power to carry out its basic functions, including “independent judicial review over government authorities as a brake against governmental abuse of power against private individuals.”
It would, she added, change the image of Israel’s legal system from one in which appointments are made “in a way that emphasizes professional qualifications” to a system in which appointment and promotion “depend on the degree of sympathy that the candidate or the person seeking advancement enjoys among elements in the political system.”
Levin’s proposed legislation therefore requires “substantive changes” in order to make it commensurate with democratic principles, she said.
Sa’ar panned Baharav-Miara for “fundamental errors” in her position and accused her of being the one to politicize the process.
“This is a political document, not a legal one,” he charged on social media platform X, of the attorney general’s comments. “To be honest, it is difficult to find, in the history of the state and the Knesset, a proposal that was formulated after such extensive public and political discourse” as his own was.
The minister accused Baharav-Miara of “attempting to stall” the legislation and undermine Israelis’ political will, claiming his proposal enjoys “a sweeping majority in the Knesset.”
Sa’ar, who recommended Baharav-Miara for the post as justice minister in the Bennett-Lapid government, said the jurist was wrong to assume judges are required to have a say over the selection of other judges.
“The attorney general writes that the proposal harms and contradicts democratic principles,” he countered. “The truth is that the one undermining democratic principles is the attorney general herself, who is trying to replace both the government and the Knesset.”
The proposed change in the judicial committee formula is part of a broader government plan to alter the judiciary. Critics say the changes will dangerously erode Israel’s democratic character while supporters say the reform is needed to rein in an overreaching court system.
The plan was put on hold following the outbreak of war in October 2023, but Levin, who is spearheading the process, has recently worked to revive the scheme, amid growing calls in the cabinet for Baharav-Miara to be fired.
Sa’ar recently said he believed the new legislation could be passed within a month.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said last week that the process of removing Baharav-Miara from her position was set to begin in the coming weeks.
Sa’ar has said that he prefers to split the attorney general position into two roles, attenuating her power rather than firing her outright.
The Times of Israel Community.