From the Liveblog of
Sunday, June 30, 2024
Going against AG, ministers back bill dramatically changing how judicial ombudsman chosen
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Ignoring legal objections by the Attorney General’s Office, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approves a bill dramatically changing how the State Ombudsman for Judges is chosen.
The ombudsman provides oversight and investigates complaints against judges and has until now been chosen by the Judicial Appointments Committee — a body which includes representatives of the High Court, Knesset and Bar Association — following a joint nomination by the justice minister and the president of the High Court.
The new legislation, proposed by Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman Simcha Rothman, one of the architect’s of the government’s proposed judicial overall, would be appointed by the president following a vote in the Knesset, with representatives of the judicial system cut out of both the nomination and selection process. Instead, a group of 10 lawmakers or the justice minister would be empowered to nominate candidates.
For a long time, Justice Minister Yariv Levin refused to convene the Judicial Appointments Committee, due to his stated desire to change the composition of the panel to give the government control over appointments before filling empty positions on the court benches.
Earlier today, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara voiced objections to the measure, stating that “such a fundamental change of the selection procedure for an important and sensitive position and the criteria for its selection, should be done from a general and in-depth perspective,” and “not from a narrow view of momentary interests, by way of a concrete dispute regarding the upcoming appointment.”
Last month, outgoing State Ombudsman for Judges Uri Shoham was sharply critical of the failure to appoint a replacement for him in a thinly veiled attack on Levin.
Levin has refused to appoint a retired Supreme Court justice to replace Shoham, with Levin ally Rothman describing such an appointment as a “conflict of interest.”
In a parting letter to his office, Shoham, a former Supreme Court justice himself, wrote that this will be the first time in over two decades since the department was established that there will be no serving state ombudsman for judges.
“I see there to be a severe injury to the rule of law and public trust in the judicial system by the fact that a new ombudsman for public complaints for judges has not been appointed,” he wrote.
