Ministerial committee puts off decision on Supreme Court presidential selection legislation by two weeks

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation postpones by two weeks a decision on whether to approve a highly controversial law to have the Knesset select the president of the Supreme Court instead of the Judicial Selection Committee.

The legislation was apparently a last-ditch effort to circumvent a decision by the High Court of Justice in December that ordered Justice Minister Yariv Levin to hold a vote for a new president of the court in the Judicial Selection Committee by January 16.

Even before today’s decision, it would have been virtually impossible to pass the legislation into law before the court’s deadline.

The Attorney General’s Office told Levin earlier on Sunday that the legislation would undermine key democratic principles, including the independence of the judiciary, and would constitute the misuse of legislative power by changing the rules of the procedure while the process is underway, and therefore should not be advanced.

The Judicial Selection Committee is scheduled to convene on Tuesday and then again on Thursday to deliberate on objections submitted by members of the public to the candidacies of all 12 serving justices on the court, which Levin submitted despite their objections.

Ynet reported that another meeting will be scheduled for next week before the deadline for the appointment next Thursday.