From the Liveblog of
Thursday, December 12, 2024
High Court orders Levin to hold Judicial Selection Committee vote for a new Supreme Court president
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Israel’s slow-burning constitutional crisis rises another notch with the High Court of Justice ordering Justice Minister Yariv Levin to hold a vote in the Judicial Selection Committee for a new president of the Supreme Court by January 16.
The decision comes in response to a request for a contempt of court order against Levin for failing to hold such a vote after the court ordered him to do so in short order back in September.
Levin has slow-walked the process of appointing a new president and has sought to implement new procedures in the committee before doing so, stretching the interpretation of the court’s order that the committee hold a vote “close to” the end of the waiting period required after nominating candidates for the position of president which was in mid-November.
Following the court hearing this afternoon, the High Court declines to hold Levin in contempt, saying that such a tool was designed for extreme circumstances and noting that the minister had conducted the necessary processes to hold a vote for president and convened the committee to begin the process.
The three justices presiding say however that since Levin has not implemented the core aspect of the September order, holding a vote, it was right that it “clarify the operative order” of that ruling in a manner which “removes all doubt regarding the obligations of the minister” to bring about the appointment of a new court president.
“In order to allow the Judicial Nomination Committee to exhaust its discussions on the subject, we instruct that the justice minister bring to a vote the election of the Supreme Court president in the Judicial Selection Committee by January 16, 2025,” the justices order.
