Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced on Sunday that all of the High Court’s 12 justices (excluding the 13th, Uzi Vogelman, who will retire in October) were officially candidates to serve as Chief Justice.
Only two out of the 12 actually put their names forward – Yizhak Amit and Yosef Elron.
Levin explained on Monday that the Judicial Appointments Committee will now vet all 12 candidates, and this will reveal their “true face” by exposing public complaints against them. Levin invited the public on Sunday to file any complaints it had against any of the justices, and his office said that by mid-day Monday over 100 such complaints had been filed.
The move was an act of spite against the court, which the justice minister accused of illegitimately forcing him to elect a chief justice.
Although he did not say this publicly, the move has another advantage – the vetting process will take much more time, and in the interim Levin may attempt to enact legislation or try other measures to enable him to appoint Elron, his preferred candidate.
The move was criticized as petty, and perhaps more importantly, ineffective.
Rescinding their candidacy
First, the justices other than Elron and Amit will likely rescind their candidacy, after which it is unclear if Levin will be able to continue the vetting process.
Levin may have hoped that other justices, seeing their names listed as candidates, may choose not to rescind their candidacy and compete for the position.
Second, with Vogelman’s retirement in October, Amit, as the longest-serving justice, will become interim chief justice in any case. Delaying the vote, therefore, will lead to the outcome that Levin is attempting to prevent.
More important, however, is the fact that Levin has said that he will not cooperate with a chief justice elected by the committee that he was forced to convene.
Since October 2023, Israel’s High Court has operated with two vacancies due to the retirement of justices Esther Hayut and Anat Baron. With Vogelman set to retire, and with Levin not expected to cooperate, the bench will likely remain with three vacancies for the foreseeable future. This will likely lead to further clogging of the court system and affect its ability to function properly.