Justice Minister Levin takes steps to expand influence over Israeli Supreme Court

The battle between the right-leaning ruling coalition and the judiciary reached an interesting impasse after an unprecedented move by Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin.

Seeking to scupper a left-leaning appointment to the presidency of the Supreme Court, at the last minute, Levin nominated every single appointee for the position. The controversial move was intended to force the consideration of all of the candidates, rather than the customarily automatic appointment of the most senior candidate, following the vacancy left by Justice Uzi Vogelman’s upcoming retirement on Oct. 6. 

The High Court of Justice had previously ordered Levin to submit the names of his candidates for the court's presidency within two weeks, and with just hours to go before the deadline he submitted all of the justices for the position.

Levin’s letter nominating all 13 candidates opened with the words: “By virtue of the seizure of the powers of the Minister of Justice by decree on September 8, 2024...” has been seen as a protest and criticized as childish trolling. 

Levin pointed out that according to the law, the committee is to be convened solely at the discretion of the justice minister, stating, “Everyone, within 20 days from the date of publication of the names of the candidates, may contact the committee with a reasoned request not to select a particular candidate.”

However, the Judicial Appointments Committee must be convened 45 days after the candidates are announced according to the court order imposed upon him.

The custom of seniority as the deciding factor for the position of Supreme Court president means that Justice Isaac Amit, a liberal, would theoretically be in a position to wield power against the government. Levin has been trying to introduce a new system for naming the president of the Supreme Court as part of the government’s planned overhaul of the judicial system. However, this judicial review has been strongly resisted both by the judiciary and the Movement of Quality Government in Israel. There have been large public protests against changes to the judicial system, driven by concerns that too much-unchecked power would then lie with the ruling coalition. 

The Movement of Quality Government in Israel has pushed for Levin to be ordered to hold votes on the appointment of new justices to the Supreme Court as the petitioning organization but presiding justices Yael Wilner, Ofer Grosskopf and Alex Stein have declined to issue the order.

In his announcement, Levin said the public can send a written objection to the appointment of each of the justices, giving an email address for the purpose. His actions are seen as an attempt to drag out the process by inviting the public to weigh in. While technically complying with the court order, he "scolded" the court while nominating them all, hoping to break the system.

Levin’s preferred candidate is conservative Justice Yosef Elron, but the attempt to prevent Justice Isaac Amit from gaining the position will be thwarted if the other candidates withdraw from the nominations.

To date, all Supreme Court justices, except for Amit and Elron, have chosen to remove their names, favoring the system in place honoring seniority. However, despite this, Levin declared that he will still consider all candidates for the Supreme Court presidency.