Despite the apparent majority in favor of the election of Justice Esther Hayut for Supreme Court President, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked refuses to officially announce the election.
Shaked only agreed in principle to the choice of the only candidate for the position, after no other judge had offered himself. Shaked conditioned the announcement of the appointment on reaching agreements on the identities of two additional judges who will join Hayut and replace Yoram Danziger and Uri Shoham, who retired.
Shaked, who is faithful to her ideological views, wants to appoint additional conservative judges to those appointed in the last round, thereby influencing the makeup of the Supreme Court for the coming years. Between Shaked and Supreme Court President Miriam Naor, it was agreed that the choice of Hayut and her choice of deputy, Hanan Meltzer, will be included in the agenda of the selection committee on July 18. However, in order for the election to be launched on the planned date, it must be published 45 days in advance, which is next Sunday.
Minister Shaked is the only one who controls the publication of the agenda of the selection committee, and if no understanding is reached between her and Naor regarding the next appointments, she will be able to delay the meeting of the committee for many months, and even until Naor's retirement at the end of October.
A senior legal source postulated that in the absence of agreements, a stormy summer is expected in the legal echelon and that Hayut will have to wait until the very last minute.
The concern in the Supreme Court is that in the event of any change in the coalition or even early elections, all the cards will be reshuffled. Since in the wake of a past ruling in the High Court of Justice, a transitional government is not authorized to convene and elect new judges.
In the meantime, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and the chairman of the Israel Bar Association Effi Naveh, who are taking part in the selection committee, are signaling their support for Hayut. "At the Bar Association conference in Eilat, Naveh called Hayut "the intended president," while Kahlon made it clear he would not lend a hand to canceling the "seniority method," according to which the longest serving judge is elected to the presidency.