High Court: If government fires AG, decision will be frozen pending judicial review

In a highly consequential decision, the High Court of Justice rules that if the government decides to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, the decision will not take effect immediately in order to allow the court to hear legal challenges to the measure.

The decision comes following petitions filed by several government watchdog groups asking the court to freeze the dismissal process before Baharav-Miara is fired by the government, and to rule on petitions against the government’s new process for firing the attorney general.

The petitions were filed early Friday morning after a ministerial committee recommended to the government on Thursday night that it fire Baharav-Miara due to “substantive and ongoing differences of opinion between the government and the attorney general preventing effective cooperation.”

Judge Noam Sohlberg, a staunch conservative, declines to issue an interim order against the dismissal process itself, saying that judicial review can only be conducted after a decision is made to fire the attorney general.

“Taking into account the difficulties pointed out by the petitioners (particularly regarding the timeline), the apparent prospects of the petition, and the nature of the issue at hand [and] its associated implications… should the government decide to dismiss the attorney general the decision will not take effect immediately, in order to allow sufficient time for judicial review,” writes Sohlberg.

The cabinet agenda published on Thursday for Sunday’s meeting does not include an item for firing the attorney general, although such an agenda item could be added before the cabinet convenes.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, a far-right member of the Likud party, immediately threatens in response that the government will not abide by the court decision.

“Any decision of the High Court of Justice without explicit authority in law — will not enter into force before the authority is anchored in legislation in the Knesset,” says Karhi, implying that the court does not have the power of judicial review over government decisions.

Referring to the attorney general as the “political tyrant to the government,” he calls on Justice Minister Yariv Levin to put a vote on Baharav-Miara’s dismissal on the cabinet’s agenda for this Sunday, and to appoint a new attorney general at the same time.

“The law must be obeyed and not arbitrary decisions. The deep state cannot be allowed to steal power from the people,” warns Karhi.

The Israel Democracy Guard, one of the organizations that petitioned the court against the government’s dismissal process for the attorney general, welcomes the court’s decision, stating that it will “ensure that the government will not be able to dismiss the legal advisor to the government at any moment.”

“The decision shows that even in the court’s opinion, the move to dismiss the attorney general is an illegal move, based on an illegal change in the rules for ending the attorney general’s term. Our legal struggle will continue — this is just the beginning,” the organization says.