Supreme Court chief: Levin refusing to meet, directly harming operation of legal system
In letter, acting president Isaac Amit says justice minister refusing to discuss judicial appointments; source close to Levin: ‘He can send the letter to himself by return mail’
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Acting Supreme Court President Isaac Amit on Monday sent a letter to Justice Minister Yariv Levin urging him to meet to advance key appointments in the judiciary while noting that the minister had refused to meet with him and his predecessor for the past six months.
Since Levin’s judicial overhaul stalled last year, partly due to a burgeoning protest movement and also the outbreak of war following the October 7 atrocities, he has refused to appoint a new Supreme Court president or fill open seats on the court.
Amit became acting president in October, taking over for the retiring acting president Uzi Vogelman, who himself got the job because Levin refused to call a vote following the retirement of former court chief Esther Hayut. The liberal Amit would be selected as permanent president under the traditional seniority system that Levin seeks to upend to install a conservative at the top of the court.
Writing to Levin, Amit said that appointments needed to be made for court presidents and senior judges, registrars for the Supreme Court and the National Labor Court; and that members of different statutory committees must be selected — all of which requires cooperation between himself and the justice minister.
“Since I began my role as Acting President of the Supreme Court, I have requested to hold regular weekly meetings with you, aimed at ensuring the proper functioning of the judicial system and continuing to provide legal services to the public in Israel. Unfortunately, these requests were denied,” Amit wrote.
“For about half a year, since June 2024, when you ceased holding regular working meetings with President Vogelman, important issues have accumulated that require joint attention, which are currently not being advanced,” he added.
“This situation is directly harming the proper operations of the legal system and the interests of those before the courts,” Amit told Levin.
“The time has come to establish joint channels of communication and work between us and to return to an organized and professional work program, as existed in the past,” said Amit, in order to advance “the joint goal of advancing the good of the system and providing a positive legal service to the public.”
A source close to Levin cited in Hebrew media said in response that “Justice Amit can send the letter to himself by return mail. Indeed, the time has come to work without orders and with agreement. There is no such thing as joint work when it is convenient and court injunctions when it is convenient.”
The comment refers to a September High Court of Justice ruling that Levin must convene the Judicial Selection Committee and elect a new president for the Supreme Court as quickly as possible, after refusing to do so for a year.
Amit was not a member of the three-justice panel — which included two conservatives — which ruled unanimously that Levin had exceeded his authority in refusing to call a vote for the position.
In late November, Levin convened a long-delayed meeting of the Judicial Selection Committee, but the meeting ended without a vote to elect a permanent Supreme Court president. Levin spent the session discussing technical matters relating to the vote but did not call it. His actions appeared to be in violation of the High Court’s September decision.
In response, The Movement for Quality Government filed a petition against Levin for contempt of court the ruling. The High Court is set to discuss that petition on Thursday, December 12.
Levin, the hawkish Likud member who led the government’s stalled judicial overhaul effort, is looking to steer the court in a more conservative direction and prevent the election of Amit.
Levin’s position is that the seniority system is merely a tradition and not legally binding. He prefers hardline conservative Justice Yosef Elron for the position, and has spent the past 13 months trying to prevent Amit’s selection.
Zev Staub contributed to this report.
