After demanding to receive independent representation in the hearing before the Supreme Court regarding the issue of the committee's failure to convene for the selection of judges, the Legal Advisor to the Government, Gali Baharav-Miara, updated the office of the Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, that she would respond to the request.
The discussion in the Supreme Court is expected to take place on Thursday in the Supreme Court building.
After an exchange of letters between the Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, and the Legal Advisor to the Government, Gali Baharav-Miara, in which Levin claimed that she does not adequately represent him in the discussion on the issue of the committee's convening for the selection of judges, this morning (Sunday), Minister Levin turned to her with a demand for independent representation before the Supreme Court judges.
"I hereby reject everything mentioned in your letter, and I have nothing to add except to reiterate what I wrote in my letter to you from August 30, 2023, things that speak for themselves," Levin wrote and added, "Given the situation you have created, also regarding the appeals under discussion, due to your extreme and contrary positions as opposed to the government's position, and in response to the question you directed to me regarding my representation in the appeals under discussion, I am compelled to inform you that this time as well, I will require independent representation."
He further explained the role of the Attorney General from his perspective in his letter: "The role of the government's legal advisor is to represent the government and its members and not to force them to repeatedly seek independent representation."
"Serious violation of the rule of law"
As a reminder, last week, Gali Baharav-Miara responded to Levin's letter and wrote: "A mistaken impression is created according to which the legal counsel to the government under my leadership does not promote the government's affairs in a continuous, substantial, professional manner, and in accordance with the law, its policy, and its actions. The reality is entirely opposite. The role of the government's legal advisor is to assist the government within the bounds of the law, and the legal advisory system to the government works hand in hand with every government to advance its governmental activity on all its components. These things are true, of course, in relation to the current government as well."
However, Miara clarified that "the professional duty of legal counsel to the government is to warn the government against actions contrary to the law. This is the meaning of safeguarding the threshold - it is the role of the government's legal advisor. Cancelling or ignoring the component of threshold safeguarding in the role of the government's legal advisor, for example, by remaining silent when the government acts contrary to the law, severely undermines the rule of law.
"The legal counsel to the government under my leadership will continue to fulfill its role in assisting the government in implementing its policy within the bounds of the law and will provide, to the best of its ability, legal solutions to advance government actions, even when legal issues arise," the Attorney General added. "However, the expectation that the government's legal advisor will deviate from his role and refrain from voicing legal concerns when legal issues arise in the context of appeals in the Supreme Court and avoid serving as a safeguard is an illegitimate expectation. Compliance with it will severely harm the rule of law, the integrity of government work, and, in effect, the public."