High Court Orders Levin to Cooperate With Chief Justice Amit on Judicial Appointments

The High Court of Justice ruled today, Sunday, that Justice Minister Yariv Levin must cooperate with Supreme Court President Isaac Amit on judicial appointments. In its ruling, the justices criticized Levin: "Justice Isaac Amit has been the President of the Supreme Court from the day of his swearing-in until the end of his term. Anyone seeking to deny that is seeking to deny reality. He is in the same position as someone who believes that at this time Mr. Isaac Herzog is not the President of the State, Knesset Member Benjamin Netanyahu is not the Prime Minister, and Knesset Member Amir Ohana is not the Speaker of the Knesset. Therefore, the central claim on which the Justice Minister refuses to cooperate with President Amit is a frivolous claim." The High Court ruled that the justice minister must act in cooperation with the President of the Supreme Court on appointments in the judicial system and ordered him to do so "as soon as possible." The court also ordered the justice minister to pay the petitioner’s legal expenses, in the amount of 30,000 shekels.

A week ago, the High Court ruled that Levin must convene the Judicial Selection Committee to appoint judges to the vacant posts in the district courts. Under that ruling, the committee is required to meet in order to select judges for the district courts, with priority given to the district courts in Beersheba and Haifa. The ruling was issued after, for about a year and a half, the justice minister refused to convene the committee in the absence of broad agreement on the candidates’ identities. During that period, a severe shortage of judges developed across all levels of the judiciary, causing serious harm to the court system’s ability to enforce the law and provide quality, efficient service to the general public. This was especially true because of the significant increase in the number of proceedings in the various courts since the start of the October 7 war.

After Levin announced, during the proceedings, his intention to convene the committee to fill a substantial portion of the vacancies in the magistrate courts, the Supreme Court ruled that he is also obligated to convene the Judicial Selection Committee to fill the vacant posts in the district courts as soon as possible. Levin attacked the High Court’s ruling and declared that it is unlawful: "This is an obviously unlawful decision, in which the judiciary takes over the Judicial Selection Committee, in direct violation of the provisions of the law."

"If any of the judges wants to run the Judicial Selection Committee and determine when it meets, he is welcome to take off his robe, run for the Knesset, try to be elected, and in coalition negotiations ahead of forming the government demand the Justice Ministry. That is what the law says, and it applies to the judges themselves. Three judges have created, with their own hands, an unprecedented constitutional crisis, and the entire responsibility lies at their doorsteps."