From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Knesset set to hold final votes on bill to take political control of judicial appointments
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
The coalition is set to bring highly controversial legislation for its final votes in Knesset tomorrow that would greatly increase political control over the judicial appointments process in Israel, and dramatically reduce the influence of the judiciary over appointments to the Supreme Court.
Approving the bill will likely take all night and into the early hours of Thursday morning due to the unprecedented 71,023 objections the opposition filed against the legislation.
The legislation would increase the number of political representatives on the nine-member Judicial Selection Committee.
It would also give political representatives from the coalition, opposition and judiciary on the nine-member Judicial Selection Committee vetoes over lower court appointments, as opposed to the current system where no side has a veto.
And the bill would remove all influence of the three judges on the committee over appointments to the Supreme Court while granting the coalition and opposition vetoes.
The attorney general, three former Supreme Court presidents and opposition parties have argued that the changes will politicize the judicial appointments process and the judiciary itself.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who has advanced the bill, argues it is necessary to redress what he says is a system tilted against the right-wing in the judicial appointments process.
The law, if passed, would only take effect at the beginning of the next Knesset term, meaning after the next general election, and it will almost certainly be challenged in the High Court of Justice.
