Ministers to discuss last-ditch bill granting government control over election of Supreme Court president

In what appears to be a Hail Mary effort to circumvent the High Court of Justice, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation will on Sunday evaluate a bill proposed by Likud MK Tally Gotliv that would switch the system for electing the Supreme Court president from a vote in the Judicial Selection Committee to a vote in the Knesset.

The High Court ordered Justice Minister Yariv Levin on December 12 to hold a vote in the Judicial Selection Committee to appoint a new Supreme Court justice by January 16, following his refusal to do so for the last 15 months.

Even were the Ministerial Committee for Legislation — which determines which private members bills the government will support in Knesset — to back Gotliv’s bill, it would be impossible to pass it into law by January 16.

The submission of Gotliv’s bill to the committee was said not to have been coordinated with Levin, nor does the justice minister believe it can be passed at this time.

A bill that would grant the government a majority in the Judicial Selection Committee and give it control over virtually all judicial appointments, including the president of the Supreme Court, was advanced to the cusp of being passed into law back in March 2023 at the height of Levin’s push for a judicial overhaul, but was frozen at the last minute due to mass protests and strike action.

That bill can, however, be very swiftly brought for its final votes in Knesset, and Levin intends to push for such a move if no compromise can be found between him and the representatives of the judiciary on the Judicial Selection Committee over the identity of the new president and appointments to fill empty seats on the Supreme Court.

Gotliv’s bill would amend Basic Law: The Judiciary, one of Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Laws, by simply transferring the vote from the Judicial Selection Committee to the Knesset.