From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Conservative Sohlberg to replace liberal Amit on Judicial Selection Committee
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Supreme Court Justice Isaac Amit’s three-year term on the Judicial Selection Committee will end at the end of the month and he will be replaced by Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, Acting Supreme Court President Uzi Vogelman informs Justice Minister Yariv Levin.
Sohlberg will serve on the committee from March 1 until December 20, 2026, two months shy of a three-year term since he served on the influential panel for two months after Vogelman’s term ended in August 2023.
Supreme Court justices are appointed to the committee on the basis of their seniority on the court, although at least one of the three justices on the panel must be a woman.
Sohlberg had to step down from the committee in October 2023 in favor of Justice Daphne Barak Erez, since Supreme Court President Esther Hayut, who was also a committee member, retired from the court at that time.
Amit is firmly within the liberal camp of the Supreme Court while Sohlberg is strongly conservative.
The Judicial Selection Committee selects judges for all courts, including the Supreme Court, and therefore has critical influence over the makeup of the judiciary.
The committee has met several times since legal pressure on Levin forced him to convene the panel in November, but has yet to appoint any judges in that time.
The Times of Israel Community.