Levin requests fresh extension to pick Supreme Court chief, citing claims against Amit
Ahead of Sunday deadline to appoint top court’s president, justice minister asserts he can’t convene committee to hold vote as this would ‘contravene his conscience’
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter

Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Thursday requested a further extension from the High Court of Justice to the January 26 deadline he was given to appoint a new Supreme Court president, saying fresh allegations of misconduct against the leading candidate, acting president Isaac Amit, require an investigation.
The Supreme Court, sitting in its capacity as the High Court, has ordered Levin three times to appoint a new president, the latest of those on January 16, when it gave him until January 26 after allegations of misconduct were raised against Amit.
Levin has yet to schedule a hearing of the Judicial Selection Committee, which appoints the Supreme Court president, ahead of the deadline on Sunday.
New allegations this week that Amit has sat on cases in which he had conflicts of interest prompted Levin to demand answers from Amit, and an investigation into the accusations by the Judicial Selection Committee’s legal adviser attorney Leah Rakuver. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara ordered Rakuver not to conduct an investigation however, and instead to pass the allegations and Amit’s responses to the charges to the Judicial Selection Committee for it to review and decide.
“Under these circumstances, it is not possible to place the responsibility on the minister to convene the committee at a time when his discretion over the issue has been revoked, and when [convening the committee] contravenes his obligation of duty to the public and his conscience,” Levin’s attorney Tzion Amir told the High Court.
He said in addition that administrative regulations do not permit the Supreme Court president to be appointed until the allegations are clarified.
Levin therefore asked the court to delay the appointment of a president until a “proper process of examining the reports” can be completed.
The justice minister added that even if the court does not agree to an examination process, it should still grant more time to make the appointment to allow the Judicial Selection Committee time to review the problems.

Levin’s latest request for an extension came a day after he called on Amit to suspend his candidacy for permanent president of the Supreme Court, citing media reports on the conflict of interest claims against the acting chief justice.
Amit rebuffed the demand, insisting that the allegations were part of an “organized smear campaign” designed to thwart his appointment while vowing to provide rebuttals to all the accusations against him.
Levin has refused to appoint a new court president for 15 months — since the previous head retired — due to his opposition to Amit, a liberal justice. Levin has sought the appointment of a conservative to head the Supreme Court, but does not have the votes in the Judicial Selection Committee to appoint him.
The High Court of Justice has ruled that Levin has exceeded his authority in refusing to appoint a new president.