AG urges High Court to set date by which new Supreme Court president must be tapped

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara calls on the High Court of Justice to set a date by which a new Supreme Court president will have to be appointed.

In a legal opinion filed to the High Court in response to a petition demanding such an appointment, Baharav-Miara says that “the continuous harm to the judiciary must be stopped, and a date in the near future should be set by which a head for the judiciary — a Supreme Court president — must be appointed.”

Justice Minister Yariv Levin has avoided appointing a full-time chief justice for over a year, aiming to avoid tapping Justice Isaac Amit for the job, whom the minister views as adversarial.

The High Court has ruled that Levin must convene the Judicial Selection Committee, which appoints Israel’s judges, after he long refused to call a meeting to avoid tapping a chief justice. Since the ruling, Levin has held one meeting and has announced a second meeting for this Thursday, but neither’s agenda has included a vote on the Supreme Court president.

Levin, a hawkish Likud party member who led the government’s stalled judicial overhaul effort, is looking to steer the court in a more conservative direction and prevent the election of liberal justice Amit, who stands to win the majority on the committee.

Amit is currently the acting president, and is expected to become the permanent president under the longstanding seniority system, which Levin seeks to upend, by which the justice with the most years on the court is elected the next president.

Levin argues that the seniority system is merely a tradition and not legally binding. He prefers conservative Justice Yosef Elron for the position, and has spent the past 13 months trying to prevent Amit’s selection.