High Court to hear petitions on AG’s firing on Sept. 3 before nine-judge panel

The High Court of Justice will hear petitions on September 3 against the government’s controversial decision to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, before an expanded panel of nine judges.

Baharav-Miara remains in her role for the time being.

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit decided to expand the panel to nine judges, as opposed to the more standard three, and have it consist of the nine most senior judges, signaling the importance of the case and the controversy surrounding it.

Amit will head the panel, which comprises six conservatives of varying degrees and three liberals, including the president — the most senior justices who will be available.

The government voted on Monday to fire Baharav-Miara after years of tensions, accusing her of repeatedly acting to block government policies, appointments, and legislation instead of assisting the government to implement its will.

The attorney general argues that most of her decisions have made room for the government’s position, but that in some circumstances her role required her to tell the government it would be acting unlawfully if it pursued certain actions.

After failing to remove Baharav-Miara through a process established in 2000, the government recently made changes to procedures to enable it to quickly dismiss her.

Government watchdog groups and the Yesh Atid party petitioned the High Court, arguing that the changes to the dismissal procedure were unlawful.

Judge Noam Sohlberg, a conservative who presided over the initial proceedings of the case, has already indicated that the court does not view the new dismissal procedure favorably, recommending last week that the government revert to the old procedure — which it did not do.

The court issued a temporary order following Baharav-Miara’s dismissal on Monday freezing the move until the court issues a further decision, though some in the government have threatened to ignore the bench or place a de facto boycott on Baharav-Miara in the interim.

The petitioners have requested that the court issue a stronger interim order to freeze the dismissal until the end of proceedings.

The government and other respondents have until Thursday to file their responses to the interim order requests. The petitioners may file updated petitions by August 24 and the government will have until August 30 to file its full response.

Firing the attorney general is seen as especially controversial since the role is viewed as a key safeguard of the rule of law in Israel, owing to the attorney general’s twin role as arbiter of the legality of government actions, and as the head of the criminal prosecution service. She has a key role in overseeing the prosecution in the prime minister’s criminal trial, and her removal could be seen as an attempt to influence those proceedings.

In March, the government initiated the process of firing the attorney general by seeking the recommendation of the public professional advisory committee that was used to appoint her in 2022, in keeping with the terms of a cabinet resolution passed in 2000.

But in June, after failing to staff that committee with a former justice minister or attorney general as required under the original process, the cabinet passed a new resolution replacing the entire professional committee with a political panel composed of five cabinet ministers to consider the matter and then make an official recommendation to oust her.

She was fired in a unanimous decision of the cabinet on Monday.