Beinish and Ne'eman. Must reach an agreement
Photo: Yaniv Cohen
Minister Erdan
Photo: Gil Yohanan
MKs suggest 4 religious candidates for Supreme Court
Three right-wing members of Committee for Appointing Judges recommend four skullcap wearers; Supreme Court President Beinish expected to object to new list
Three members of the Committee for Appointing Judges on Monday sent a letter to the committees' chairman, Justice Minister Yaakov Ne'eman, suggesting four additional candidates for the Supreme Court – all of whom are religious.
The four candidates suggested by the three committee members are: Moshe Drori and Noam Sohlberg of the Jerusalem District Court, Issaiyho Schneller of the Tel Aviv District Court, and Dov Frimer – a lawyer from the private sector who specializes in family law and international law.
The three – Knesset Members David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu) and Uri Ariel (National Union) and Environment Protection Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) – acted in accordance with the committee's code, which states that three members must sign a recommendation to make changes to the list of judges and suggest new candidates.
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A senior legal source told Ynet that these candidates are surprising and that Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish was likely not to accept most of the names on the new list.
According to the source, Justice Beinish will fight with all her might to thwart the appointment of most of the new candidates.
A new law adopted by the Knesset last year requires a majority of seven out of nine of the committee members for the appointment of a judge for the Supreme Court. Thus, all three of the judges who are members of the committee must vote in favor of the new list for the four religious candidates to be appointed, and the judges' candidates cannot be appointed without the support of Erdan, Ariel and Rotem.
Appointment of judges to be delayed
In order to reach a comprehensive deal which will satisfy all the committee members, Beinish and Ne'eman will have to reach an agreement with the three committee members and perhaps even appoint three judges, one of whom will be a candidate suggested by the MKs and the minister.
Following the new list of candidates, the appointment of judges for the Supreme Court will not take place in a week and a half as planned. According to the rules, following the release of the names of new candidates the committee must wait 21 days for any objections to the specific candidates. After examining the objections, the remaining candidates must undergo a hearing by the committee.
The Supreme Court candidates whose names were already been released during the term of former Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann are District Court Judges Amiram Benyamini, Isaac Amit, Judith Tsur, Oded Mudrik, David Cheshin, Sefi Elon, Uzi Vogelman and Nir Hendel.
The candidates from the private sector whose names have already been released are Attorneys Assaf Posner and Samuel Jellinek, and from the candidates from the academic sector are Professors Meni Mautner, Shalom Lerner, Dafna Barak-Erez, Eyal Benvenisti, Ariel Porat and Miguel Deutch.
