by JNS Staff
The main change: Two seats on the committee will be filled by Knesset-appointed attorneys.
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Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar (left) and Justice Minister Yariv Levin. Photo by Michael Dimenstein/GPO. |
Seeking broad consensus for a change to the Judicial Selection Committee, the nine-member panel that chooses judges in Israel, Justice Minister Yariv Levin struck a deal with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, the outline of which was revealed on Thursday.
It also establishes rules regarding Basic Laws, which are viewed as having greater force than regular laws. The changes will limit such laws to certain topics, such as the identity of the state and human rights. It will also restrict judicial review of Basic Laws.
The agreement will presumably end the Supreme Court’s control over candidates by removing two positions previously held by members of the Israel Bar Association and replacing them with two attorneys who will be appointed by Knesset members.
One of the attorneys will be picked by the ruling coalition and one by the opposition. The compromise strips the Supreme Court of its de facto veto over appointments, yet gives a degree of control to the opposition.
A majority of at least five will be required for a selection, so long as one is a coalition member and one from the opposition.
In the current framework, the Judicial Selection Committee is made up of three Supreme Court judges, two government ministers, two Knesset members, and two lawyers from the Israel Bar Association.
As seven of the nine members are needed to approve a candidate, and the three judges vote as a bloc, they have veto power over nominees.
Given that the Bar Association lawyers typically vote with the judges (in large part because they don’t want to anger the judges who will hear their cases, critics say), the judges also end up with a majority.
Supporters of judicial reform have argued that the judges’ majority leads to homogeneity—judges who think alike.
With Sa’ar’s agreement, support for the reform will include all coalition members. Sa’ar, who formed the New Hope Party after leaving the Likud, joined the government in September, increasing the coalition’s majority from 64 to 68 in the 120-member Knesset.
The reform, far narrower than the judicial reform package envisioned by Levin when he first announced it in January 2023, may also attract some opposition members.
MK Matan Kahana, a member of Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party, has already declared that he would support the agreement.
“If this is the deal, it does seem like a good proposal around which a broad consensus can be formed,” Kahana said. “All this on the condition that the minister of justice upholds the High Court’s ruling and appoints a permanent president before next Thursday.”
Kahana referred to the court’s Sept. 8 ruling that Levin must convene the Judicial Selection Committee so that it can choose a Supreme Court president, among other appointments.
Justice Isaac Amit, who has been acting president of the court since Oct. 1, is slated to become the next Supreme Court president. Levin has adamantly opposed Amit’s appointment, but as part of the compromise deal has agreed to withdraw his opposition.
JNS Staff
Source: https://www.jns.org/saar-levin-reach-deal-to-change-makeup-of-judicial-selection-panel/
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