Levin on the High Court: A handful of extremists, dictatorial rulers, the order is illegal

December 12, 2024   

High Court ruled today (Thursday) that Justice Minister Yariv Levin must postpone the vote on the election of the President of the Supreme Court by January 16. Justices Yael Wilner, Ofer Grosskopf and Alex Stein also rejected the petition for contempt of court in their decision. They emphasized: "The Minister of Justice's actions thus far do not fulfill the principled determination in the ruling that it is mandatory to bring about the election of the President of the Supreme Court." The judges added in the decision: "We find it appropriate to clarify the operative provision of the ruling in a way that will remove any doubt regarding the Minister of Justice's duties. Considering the reasonable amount of time required, in our assessment, to allow the Judicial Nomination Committee to exhaust its deliberations on the matter, we order that the Minister of Justice must postpone the election of the President of the Supreme Court for a vote by the members of the Judicial Nomination Committee by January 16, 2025.". Levin: They are turning themselves into dictatorial rulers Minister of Justice Yariv Levin He reacted sharply to the High Court order: "The illegal and shameful order issued today by the High Court, which miraculously was given a few minutes after the heated speech by Justice Yitzhak Amit, is the essence of the loss of direction, the disconnection, and the trampling that a handful of extremists allow themselves just because they think they can." Levin added and attacked: "The actual dismissal of the elected Minister of Justice from his position as chairman of the committee for selecting judges, and the deliberate thwarting by the judges of the proposal to broadcast the hearings for the election of the President of the Supreme Court, are evidence of what has been happening here in recent years. The Supreme Court judges are taking for themselves the powers of the government and the Knesset, trampling on the people's choice, time and again throwing away the votes of millions of Israeli citizens, and turning themselves into dictatorial rulers, intervening and determining everything, instead of the people's choice." He emphasized: "The High Court judges, with unsurpassed arrogance, have pushed us all to the point where it is no longer possible to escape the necessary decision: whether to finally hand over control of the country to a handful of judges who elect themselves in private chambers, or to restore democracy by taking a clear and unequivocal stand in defense of the powers of the Knesset and the government." According to him, "Israeli citizens have the right to live in a democratic country that has a judicial system, and not to be the servants of a handful of masters who think that the court is superior to the country and its citizens.". Judge Amit's speech: They will not harm us Acting President of the Supreme Court, Judge Yitzhak Amit, spoke today at the traditional conference of the Public Law Association and sharply attacked the government. "This is the first time in the history of the country that the executive branch has interfered so blatantly in the internal management of the judiciary and in the way its resources are allocated. Don't let the technical terminology mislead you: harming the institutional strength of the judiciary is harming the independence of the judiciary, and first and foremost the entire public. On the other hand, it must be emphasized again: the judiciary will stand firm against attempts to harm its institutional strength, and it will be able to defeat them." He also criticized the Minister of Justice, claiming that his conduct was inappropriate. "If direct moves to weaken the judiciary are not enough, the Minister of Justice has also recently interrupted the tradition of dialogue and cooperation between the authorities. For about six months, the Minister has refused to hold working meetings with the Head of the Judiciary, meetings in which joint decisions would be made on issues at the core of the management of the court system. The Acting President, retired, Judge Uzi Fogelman, and I have repeatedly warned the Minister about this, but there is no response. "We have also recently heard of an initiative to cancel the standards for judges who have not been appointed, that is: with one hand, the Minister is preventing the appointment of new judges, and with the other hand, he is working to delete the unfilled standards, thereby perpetuating the vacuum that he himself created. The message that emerges from this is clear: if the judges that the Minister wants are not elected, the standards for judging will be deleted. The resulting danger to the independence of the judiciary is obvious." The Deputy President of the Supreme Court also referred to the departure of Supreme Court representatives from the Judicial Appointments Committee, after Minister Levin invited external expert judges to the committee for the selection of judges. "This is another example of the ongoing trampling of the norms of statehood and proper administration. Not many people know this, but many aspects of the management of the judiciary involve the involvement of elements in the executive branch, and of the Minister of Justice in particular. This fact, especially when it is abused, creates a platform for interference in the activities of the judiciary and harming its strength and independence." He addressed Minister Levin and said: "He must fulfill his basic duties not for my sake, not for his sake, but for the sake of the country's residents who are entitled to receive quality and efficient service from the judicial system.". Tears to a colleague: You will not be the President of the Supreme Court The Minister of CommunicationsWhy are you tearing? He reacted sharply this evening to Justice Yitzhak Amit's speech: "Judge Amit's arrogance, in his sermons to the government and the Minister of Justice about 'breaking the rules,' when in the same breath he and his friends are trampling on the entire people, is a new record that even Plato did not dream of. Honorable Justice Amit, I hereby inform you: You will not be the President of the Supreme Court. This is the people's trial! "The High Court's decision from today that obliges the Minister of Justice to appoint Amit as the Supreme Court President is illegal, invalid and must not be obeyed in any way. Your unchallenged rule is over. We represent the people. The millions of citizens who elected us democratically. This is the people's trial. This is democracy. I call on the Minister of Justice to immediately bring the law to change the composition of the committee for selecting judges for a second and third reading." According to a report by K. Adamker, senior coalition officials are discussing the possibility of renewing the legislation of the proposal to change the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee, one of the key proposals in the legal reform. The proposal has already been approved for second and third readings and only needs to be brought to a single vote in the plenum for final approval.