Levin signals intent to swiftly revive bill giving government power to appoint judges

Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Sunday signaled his desire to swiftly pass into law a highly contentious bill which would give the coalition control over almost all judicial appointments, saying the “time has come” to approve the measure in the Knesset.

Levin’s comments, caught on tape and published by Channel 13 and Kan, were made during a meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Legislation which was discussing a separate bill, proposed by Likud MK Tali Gotliv, to have the Knesset plenum elect the president of the Supreme Court instead of the Judicial Selection Committee.

Levin said he opposed Gotliv’s bill since it would contravene his more far-reaching legislation to give the government a majority on the Judicial Selection Committee, and thus control of judicial appointments, including the election of Supreme Court president.

That legislation, which was at the heart of Levin’s controversial judicial overhaul agenda, passed all the stages of the legislative process ahead of its final readings in the Knesset in 2023, but was suspended along with the rest of the overhaul effort due to a massive public backlash and widespread demonstrations.

Karhi noted that that bill had been frozen for a year and a half, and expressed doubt that it could be advanced now.

Levin responded that “the time has come, because as we know, the deadline for the order is close,” in reference to an order by the High Court of Justice to Levin to hold a vote on electing a new Supreme Court president by January 16.

MK Tally Gotliv during a debate and a vote in Knesset on the proposed impeachment of MK Ofer Cassif, February 19, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Levin currently lacks the votes on the committee to have his choice for court president elected, and a vote in the committee in its current format would likely see liberal justice Isaac Amit, who Levin opposes, be made head of the court.

Amit is currently serving as the acting president until a permanent choice is made, with Levin having prevented a vote since the retirement of former president Esther Hayut more than a year ago.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday postponed by two weeks a decision on whether to give its approval to Gotliv’s proposed law, which would amend one of Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Laws, transferring the vote on the court president from the Judicial Selection Committee to all 120 MKs in the Knesset plenum.

Earlier on Sunday, the Attorney General’s Office told Levin that Gotliv’s legislation would undermine key democratic principles, including the independence of the judiciary, and would constitute the misuse of legislative power by changing the rules of the procedure as the process is underway, and therefore should not be advanced.

Regardless, Gotliv did not coordinate her submission of the bill with Levin and the proximity to the court’s deadline on January 16 meant there was never much chance of it being passed into law before that date.

Levin had already signaled his desire to pass his more radical legislation — which could be more swiftly passed given the progress it made in the Knesset last year — but several cabinet ministers have said that such a contentious bill should not be advanced while Israel is still at war.

Despite Levin’s denunciations of the High Court for setting a deadline for the appointment of a new Supreme Court president, he has scheduled meetings of the Judicial Selection Committee for Tuesday and then again Thursday to deliberate objections submitted by members of the public to the nominations of all 12 serving justices on the court to be court chief.

After the court ordered him to hold a vote for a new president in September, Levin nominated all 12 justices of the court for the position as a way of further stalling proceedings, although 10 of them subsequently informed him that they did not wish to be considered for the role.

At the same time, he invited members of the public to submit objections to each of the candidates to drag our proceedings even longer, and has invited some of those who submitted objections to explain them in the upcoming meetings of the committee.