Government watchdog demands Levin publish Isaac Amit’s appointment as Supreme Court president in state gazette

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel has petitioned the High Court of Justice, requesting that it order Justice Minister Yariv Levin to publish the appointment of Judge Isaac Amit as president of the Supreme Court in the official state gazette, since he has failed to do so over the last eight months.

Amit was appointed president on January 26, and sworn in at the President’s Residence, without the presence of Levin and the prime minister, on February 13.

The organization notes that Israel’s various justice ministers have published the appointment of Supreme Court presidents in the country’s history in the gazette “for decades,” a practice Levin has deviated from for undeclared reasons, despite the Law for the Courts stipulating the necessity of doing so.

In its petition, the Movement for Quality Government also noted that on May 12 this year, Levin published the appointment of a numerous judges in the gazette and the appointment of Supreme Court judge Noam Sohlberg as the court’s vice-president, but did not publish Amit’s appointment at the same time.

Levin fiercely opposed the appointment of Amit, a liberal judge, as president and sought to have installed now-retired Supreme Court judge and staunch conservative Yosef Elron instead.

Since Levin did not have the votes on the Judicial Selection Committee to elect Elron president, he refused to convene the committee for 16 months, until ordered to do so by the Supreme Court itself, sitting in its capacity as the High Court of Justice.

Head of the Movement for Quality Government Eliad Shraga said Levin’s refusal to publish Amit’s appointment was “an unprecedented injury” to the independence of the judiciary.

“Eight months of not recognizing the appointment, deviating from a practice of decades, and selective publication of all appointments except for the president — all of these indicate an improper attempt to subordinate the judicial system to political agents,” said Shraga.

The petition comes as Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana refused to refer to Amit as president of the Supreme Court in the opening of the Knesset’s winter session today, and Ohana’s decision not to invite Amit to US President Donald Trump’s speech to the Knesset following the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, despite inviting Likud party activists and other political functionaries to the event.

Levin’s office declined to respond to the petition.