High Court hearing on Judicial Selection Committee set for September

The hearing on petitions demanding that Justice Minister Yariv Levin Convene the Judicial Selection Committee is set for September 7, the court spokesperson said on Thursday.

The three justices that will preside over the case, Justices Anat Baron, David Mintz, and Yosef Elron were selected because they do not sit on the Judicial Selection Committee currently and will not do so in the near future.

Petitions were filed by Yesh Atid and the Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG) on Tuesday after weeks of refusal by the government to assemble the panel. Levin has stated that he would not convene the panel until it was reformed.

The composition and rules of the committee are central elements of the ongoing judicial reform debate. In late March legislation to alter the committee was frozen after protests brought the country to a standstill.

Petition: Jusitce minister abusing his role for political gains

The petitioners argued that Levin was abusing his role as justice minister to further political considerations. As a result of the refusal to convene the committee, the overburdened judicial system would not see new judges appointed, and citizens would be denied the right to immediate trial. 

"The hearing on the petition for not convening the Judicial Selection Committee is set for another month and a half, and every day that passes there are more and more cases and the burden on the courts is only increasing, and the state's citizens are being harmed," MQG head of policy and law Hidi Negev said in response to the setting of the petition date.

"We would be happy if, in the time left until the hearing, the justice minister would stop holding the citizens of the country hostage over his narrow political considerations."