After 17-month delay by Levin, Supreme Court president’s appointment to be formally announced

After nearly a year and a half, the appointment of Supreme Court President Isaac Amit will finally be published in the state gazette, a declarative step formally announcing his appointment, following a ruling by the Supreme Court in its capacity of High Court of Justice.

The ruling comes after a hearing in the High Court this morning in which Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who has steadfastly refused to publish Amit’s appointment in the gazette, did not object to Israel Courts Administration director Tzahi Ouziel taking the necessary steps to publish the appointment.

The resolution of the impasse comes after the High Court ruled on Sunday that Amit was lawfully appointed president in January 2025 and that Levin had acted unlawfully by refusing to cooperate with Amit on the appointment of senior figures in the judiciary, such as court presidents and deputy presidents and a Supreme Court registrar, among others.

Eliad Shraga, head of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, which petitioned the court against Levin’s refusal to cooperate with Amit, lauded the victory.

“For many months, the justice minister tried to gut [Amit’s] lawful appointment and to challenge the status of the Supreme Court president,” says Shraga.

“Today, the circle is closed: Justice Isaac Amit is the president of the Supreme Court, officially and with full authority, and no one else can claim otherwise. This is a victory for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, and another defeat for Yariv Levin and his attempts [to carry out] a regime coup.”

Levin remained defiant, declaring that the “effort to force me to recognize Amit has failed again,” apparently since Ouziel — not Levin — will carry out the publication of the appointment.

“The High Court judges themselves convened the Judicial Selection Committee in an illegal order they issued, and ‘appointed’ Amit themselves, and now they are also publishing his ‘appointment’ in the state gazette. None of this will change the simple fact — his ‘appointment’ was made through an illegal and fundamentally invalid process. I do not recognize an illegal appointment and will not recognize it,” averred the justice minister.

Levin has refused to recognize Amit’s appointment ever since he was ordered to hold a vote in the Judicial Selection Committee to elect a president in January 2025.

The High Court ruled on Sunday that Amit’s appointment was lawful, that Levin’s arguments were fundamentally invalid, and that to deny Amit was court president was “to deny reality.”