Another confrontation between the Supreme Court and the minister: Supreme Court Justices Yitzhak Amit, Noam Solberg, and Dafna Barak-Erez sent a letter today (Sunday) to Justice Minister Yariv Levin demanding that the committee for selecting judges be convened.
The letter sent by the three - the judges' representatives on the Judicial Selection Committee - claims that the minister is "blatantly ignoring the acute shortage of judges" - and that the standards announced by the Justice Minister on Friday as part of the "reform" appear to stem from "foreign considerations" and even "abuse of authority.".
The letter was sent against the backdrop of a severe shortage of judges and heavy workloads in the system. In their letter, they claimed that the delay in appointments harms service to citizens and burdens the courts.
In their letter, the judges attack Minister Levin's conduct and claim that he is acting in violation of the Courts Act. "You abused your authority as the one entrusted with convening the committee and, in practice, under the guise of 'broad consensus', imposed a veto that is not within your authority on various candidates and on votes in the committee. We demand that from now on, the list of candidates and the vote in the committee be done according to the outline set out in the law.".
They emphasized that according to the law, the election of judges to the trial courts - magistrates' and district courts - must be done by a simple majority, and not under the requirement of broad political consensus.
In response to Levin's letter, in which the minister proposed additional standards for the areas of traffic and family, the judges claim that his proposals are disconnected from reality on the ground.
""The numbers in your letter seem completely arbitrary," they attacked, noting that there is an acute shortage in the district courts in Haifa and Be'er Sheva, as well as a need to strengthen the area of arrests and taxes.
The letter also reveals a shortage of district court presidents, dozens of vice presidents and associate judges - something that severely harms service to the citizen. "The situation is unbearable," they wrote.
The judges criticized Levin for meeting with the presidents of the magistrate courts without the presence of the Supreme Court President or the court administrator - "contrary to all practice.".
The Supreme Court justices announced that they are exercising their legal authority and have submitted to the Judicial Division a list of their own candidates for the district courts. The list is based on criteria of seniority - ten years or more - and the recommendation of the "Committee of Two.".
They called on the minister to add candidates on his behalf to the list and to publish it immediately in Reshumot.
The judges are demanding that the minister hold five meetings within a two-week period, which will be dedicated solely to selecting judges according to geographical and judicial order, starting from the courts in Haifa and Be'er Sheva to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
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