Levin to convene judicial panel, again puts off vote on new Supreme Court president
Top court has ordered the justice minister to hold a vote for a new chief justice by January 16, but meeting next week will only hear objections to candidates
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter

Justice Minister Yariv Levin has set a new date for the Judicial Selection Committee to convene, but has once again failed to put on the agenda a vote for a new president of the Supreme Court.
Levin, who chairs the Judicial Selection Committee, set a meeting of the forum for January 7, nine days before the January 16 deadline the Supreme Court has given him to call a vote on a new court president.
Levin, who has been waging war against the judiciary since he took office, has refused to appoint a new Supreme Court president for over a year owing to his desire to select a candidate who will take the court in a conservative direction.
The clash grew in intensity after the Supreme Court, in its capacity as the High Court of Justice, ruled in September that Levin was legally obliged to call a vote in short order, and escalated further when in early December, in light of his ongoing failure to do so, it gave him the January 16 deadline.
Levin insists he still wants “a compromise” over the identity of the new president and the appointment of justices to empty spots on the Supreme Court, but appears ready to defy the court if he cannot secure such an agreement.
The justice minister is prepared to push forward with an effort to pass hugely controversial legislation — which has been on the cusp of passage into law since March 2023 — that would grant the government a majority on the Judicial Selection Committee and control over all judicial appointments, including Supreme Court president.
It is unclear, however, if there is an appetite in the government or a majority in the coalition at present to push forward with such a radical agenda. The legislation was frozen last March amid massive public backlash and nationwide protests.

On Tuesday, Levin told the nine members of the Judicial Selection Committee that he had called a new meeting of the panel but that the only item on the agenda was hearing objections filed by the general public against “the different candidates.”
Levin also said that he is inviting people who submitted objections to appear before the committee, and invited the committee members to do so as well.
After the High Court first ordered Levin in September to call a vote, the justice minister unilaterally nominated all 12 serving justices for president and invited members of the public to submit their objections to any of them, apparently to further stall the appointment.
Although 10 of the justices subsequently told Levin they did not wish to be considered candidates, Levin insisted that he would discuss the objections anyway.
Liberal members of the committee and government watchdog groups have claimed that Levin does not have the authority to hold hearings on justices who do not wish to be considered candidates, but Levin has insisted that as chairman of the selection committee, he can do so.

During the last committee hearing at the beginning of December, the three Supreme Court justices who are members of the panel walked out of the meeting when conservative academics invited by Levin began to address the committee, a step the justices had previously told Levin they opposed.
It remains unclear how the justices and the other liberal members of the committee will respond if and when the individuals Levin invites to present their objections address the panel next week.
Levin has refused to call a vote on a new president since the previous head of the court, Esther Hayut, retired in October 2023, due to the justice minister’s desire to have Yosef Elron, a hardline conservative, appointed as president.
Levin only has three votes on the nine-member committee for Elron, while there are likely five votes for Justice Isaac Amit, who is currently serving as acting president and is next in line for permanent president under the longstanding seniority system.
Amit, a liberal, is himself a committee member but cannot participate in the vote due to a conflict of interest.
According to the seniority system in use since the court was established, the justice with the most years on the court is the only one nominated for president.
Levin has sought to dispense with the seniority system since the beginning of his judicial overhaul agenda, announced in January 2023, in order to take the court in a more conservative direction.
Critics view his actions as intended to assert government control over the judiciary, and say it will deal a severe blow to democracy.