AG: Levin has created a veto for himself over judicial appointments ‘out of thin air’

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara accuses Justice Minister Yariv Levin of creating a veto for himself over judicial appointments “out of thin air,” and says his refusal to appoint new judges is harming the ability of courts to function, causing them to delay rulings, even in urgent cases, and is therefore harming the public interest.

Levin has refused to convene the Judicial Selection Committee, which he chairs as justice minister, since January 2025, preventing it from deliberating on and appointing judges to magistrates’ and district courts, as well as the Supreme Court.

Levin’s justification is that there is no “broad consensus” on the committee to make appointments, even though the law only requires a simple majority for lower court appointments and seven of nine votes for a Supreme Court appointment.

As a result of Levin’s refusal to convene the committee, there are currently 44 empty judicial positions on various courts around the country, and that number will rise to 65 by the end of 2026, Baharav-Miara tells the High Court of Justice in response to petitions to the court demanding Levin convene the Judicial Selection Committee.

She also notes that a total of 35 new judicial positions will be created under the terms of the 2025 and 2026 budgets, but that those, too, will remain unfilled if Levin continues to refuse to make appointments.

Baharav-Miara says Levin’s stance “grants him and the other coalition members on the committee the right to ‘veto’ the appointment of judges to the magistrate and district courts, despite a massive shortage of judges and the severe and ongoing harm to the functioning of the court system and the interests of the public and litigants.”

She says that this position violates the terms of the law for judicial appointment and its purpose, “and contravenes the public interest which the law comes to serve.”

The attorney general also argues that Levin’s refusal to convene the committee contravenes the High Court’s rulings in 2024 and 2025 that Levin must convene the committee to elect a Supreme Court president, after he refused to do so for 16 months.

“In practice, the minister is using the governmental power and discretion entrusted to him…to create out of thin air an unlimited veto right for himself and the executive branch over the selection of judges, in a manner that contradicts the provisions of the law and case law, and massively harms the functioning of the judicial branch,” writes Baharav-Miara.

She adds that the court’s earlier rulings mean that Levin is therefore legally required to convene the committee within an appropriate amount of time after judicial vacancies open up, hold deliberations on the candidates, and ultimately hold a vote on those candidates to fill the empty seats on the judicial benches.

In March 2025, the coalition passed a law greatly increasing political influence over the selection of judges, although that law only takes effect after the next general election. Levin has made the decision not to convene the Judicial Selection Committee until then.