The government will vote on Justice Minister Yariv Levin's motion of no confidence in Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara on March 23, a spokesperson for Levin confirmed on Monday.
The A-G will then attend a hearing or series of hearings in front of a statutory advisory committee chaired by former Supreme Court Chief Justice Asher Grunis. Following the advisory’s conclusions, the government can officially fire her.
The process could take months and will likely be followed by a petition to the Supreme Court, which could lead to a further delay.
Levin submitted the motion on Wednesday evening. In an 84-page letter to the government’s ministers, he requested that they support the no-confidence vote and outlined the charges against her. According to Levin, the A-G had intentionally tripped up the government with unnecessarily strict legal opinions in order to topple the government. Levin added that to this end, the A-G had not hesitated to harm national security by failing to block the international arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and by failing, as head of Israel’s law enforcement apparatus, to lower organized crime.
Members of the opposition and civil society organizations argued that the A-G’s opinions were in line with the law and that she was forced to repeatedly oppose government initiatives because they were illegal. The attempt to remove her, rather, was a continuation of the government’s judicial reforms, in that they were aimed at removing a significant check on government power.
Meanwhile, the Knesset Constitution Committee continued on Monday to prepare another bill associated with the judicial reforms, aimed at increasing the power of politicians in the committee responsible for electing judges. The committee finished preparing the text and may begin voting to approve it already this week. Once approved in the committee, it will return to the Knesset plenum for final voting.
The opposition members of the committee
Opposition members of the Constitution Committee, MKs Gilad Kariv (Democrats), Karin Elharrar (Yesh Atid), and Yoav Segalovitz (Yesh Atid), argued in a letter to Knesset Legal Advisor Sagit Afik that the bill’s legislative process had been expedited improperly.
The MKs pointed out that rather than begin the legislative process from scratch, committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionist Party) decided to renew legislation of a previous version of the bill that was frozen in March 2024. The previous bill was also a proposal to alter the makeup of the Judicial Selection Committee, but it was completely different from the current bill and, therefore, warranted new legislation, the MKs argued.
In addition, they argued that some aspects of the bill proposal were inserted at the last minute in a way that did not allow for proper debate. The MKs gave a new provision in the bill as examples that Supreme Court judges must be at least 55 years old and also that there had been insufficient debate on the ramifications of the fact that the bill changes the election method of courts in lower levels and not just of the Supreme Court.
The Judicial Selection Committee’s makeup since Israel’s foundation has included nine members – three High Court judges, two ministers, two members of Knesset (traditionally one coalition and one opposition), and two representatives of the Israel Bar Association (IBA). According to the new proposal, the two IBA members will be replaced by two lawyers, one appointed by the coalition and the other by the opposition.
In addition, according to the proposal, the majority necessary for high court appointments will revert back to 5-4 instead of the current 7-2. However, every high court appointment will require the agreement of at least one representative from the opposition and one from the coalition. Appointments to all other judicial brackets will require the approval of one member of the coalition, one from the opposition, and one of the judges.
The Levin-Sa’ar proposal also includes a mechanism to prevent a stalemate in high court appointments. If a year passes with at least two vacancies, the coalition and opposition will each propose three candidates, out of which the other side must choose one (along with the judges). Finally, the law will only apply beginning with the next Knesset.
