From the Liveblog of
Sunday, March 2, 2025
AG says Levin-Sa’ar judicial proposal would cast a heavy political shadow over system, harm democracy
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara says government-backed legislation to change the judicial appointments process would undermine judicial independence and the separation of powers. It would therefore harm Israeli democracy.
Writing to Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who has advanced the bill, Baharav-Miara says the legislation greatly increases the strength of politicians in the appointments process over that of legal professionals involved in the process, which would politicize the entire judiciary.
The new legislation removes the two representatives of the Israel Bar Association from the nine-member Judicial Selection Committee, and replaces them with two lawyers to be chosen by the coalition and opposition. It also gives the coalition, opposition, and judicial representatives veto power over all judicial appointments, which they never previously enjoyed, and removes all influence of the three Supreme Court judges on the committee over Supreme Court appointments.
Baharav-Miara asserts that due to these changes, political considerations will have much greater weight in the appointments process, and will turn it into “another political arena of agreements and disputes between the coalition and opposition.”
She continues: “The proposed arrangement would cast a heavy political shadow over the judicial system and the motives for appointing or promoting a judge, [and] would harm the objective character of judicial work in all courts in an inappropriate manner.”
The dilution of professional representation on the committee and its power in the appointments process legislation, the attorney general continues, would “weaken the judicial authority and contravene the principle of the separation of powers.”
This would stymie the judiciary’s power to carry out its basic functions, including “independent judicial review over government authorities as a brake against governmental abuse of power against private individuals.”
Levin’s proposed legislation therefore requires “substantive changes” in order to make it commensurate with democratic principles, she says.
The Times of Israel Community.