High Court sets September 3 hearing for petitions against attorney general’s firing

The High Court of Justice will hear the petitions against the government’s dismissal of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara with an expanded panel of nine judges on September 3.

The panel will be headed by Supreme Court President Isaac Amit and includes six conservatives of varying degrees and three liberals, including Amit.

Government watchdog groups and the Yesh Atid party have petitioned the court against the process by which the government fired Baharav-Miara, stating that the changes it made to the dismissal procedure — after initially embarking on a process established in 2000 which it could not complete — are unlawful.

Judge Noam Sohlberg, a conservative who presided over the initial proceedings of the case, has already indicated that the court does not view the new dismissal procedure favorably, and had recommended that the government revert to the old procedure.

The court said following the firing on Monday that it could not take effect until there is a ruling on the procedure, though some in the government have threatened to ignore the bench or place a de facto boycott on Baharav-Miara in the meantime.