AG approves Levin’s request for independent counsel in judicial selection panel case

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara approved on Sunday a request by Justice Minister Yariv Levin that he be allowed to use independent legal counsel, rather than the Attorney General’s Office, to represent his position in an upcoming High Court of Justice hearing over his decision not to convene the Judicial Selection Committee.

Levin’s made his request Sunday morning after launching a tirade against Baharav-Miara last week in which he accused her of systematically opposing government positions and leaving it without legal representation, and her subsequent rejection of those allegations.

Levin also requested that the hearing, scheduled for this Thursday, be postponed, in order to allow him time to find a legal team and for it to submit a response to the petitions.

There is no word yet as to whether Baharav-Miara will file this request to the High Court on Levin’s behalf.

In a hostile letter sent on Sunday, Levin accused Baharav-Miara of adopting “extremist positions” and of ignoring the government’s policy goals, and said he rejected her response to a letter he sent last week in which he lambasted her for what he said was her systematic opposition to the government’s position on numerous issues.

“Because of the state of affairs you have created… because of your extremist positions and your routine contrariness to the position of the government… I am forced to inform you that this time too I will require independent counsel,” wrote Levin.

“This should not detract from the fact that the situation you have created is improper, and that the job of the attorney general is to represent the government and its members and not force them to require independent counsel time after time,” he added.

Baharav-Miara wrote in her letter to Levin on Thursday that although she does not believe there is any legal justification for his position not to convene the committee, she would represent his position in court, alongside her opposition to his stance, and asserted that he had agreed to this arrangement.

Levin also requested in his letter on Sunday a postponement of  Thursday’s High Court hearing, saying he needed “an appropriate amount of time” to find a legal team and for it to submit a response to the petitions to the High Court. He pointed out that even if Baharav-Miara allows him to obtain independent counsel, the attorneys would need time to compose and submit its response.

The deadline for filing responses to the petitions is currently Monday.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, one of the petitioners against Levin, said there was no need for the justice minister to be allowed independent counsel since the case was “a simple, administrative petition regarding an unauthorized, illegal failure to exercise authority.”

The Yesh Atid party, which also filed a petition against Levin, said the justice minister was “doing everything not to convene the Judicial Selection Committee” and fulfill his responsibility as minister.

“Thousands of cases are piling up, citizens are being harmed, but Levin cares about just one thing – to destroy the court, make everything political, and tear apart Israeli society,” said the party in a statement to the press, referencing the numerous open positions on court benches around the country which have not been filled because the Judicial Selection Committee has not been convened.

“We will not agree to postpone the hearing, Levin’s tricks are a mortal blow to the legal system and Israeli citizens.”

The attorney general and her staff serve as the official legal counsel to the government and its ministers in legal proceedings in court.

If the attorney general opposes the government’s position and refuses to defend it in court then the relevant minister can request independent counsel, but the attorney general can refuse the request.

Until the current coalition took office, it was extremely rare for the attorney general to take an opposing position to that of the government.

Baharav-Miara has, however, opposed the government’s position on several occasions in the last eight months.

The petitions against Levin over the Judicial Selection Committee, filed by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel and the Yesh Atid party, request that the High Court order him to convene the committee, which he has so far refused to do, ostensibly due to his desire to alter its composition before making appointments.

The Yesh Atid petition contends that Levin “lacks the authority” to decide not to convene the committee that appoints judges, while the Movement for Quality Government petition argues that Levin’s behavior amounts to an illegitimate abuse of authority.