Justice Minister Yariv Levin's reforms to the judiciary continue as the minister is promoting legislation that would allow the appointment of a Supreme Court president who is not part of the current court, Channel 13 News reported.
According to the report, officials within the judicial system believe that Levin understands that the current justices on the Supreme Court will not accept a change to the current system where the most senior justice on the court serves as the court's president.
The existing law does not allow the new system proposed by Levin. It states that the president of the Supreme Court should be chosen from among the members of the panel of 15 judges. However, Minister Levin has prepared legislation, according to which "a president or vice president of the Supreme Court will be appointed in the same way as judges of the Supreme Court are appointed, whether they first served as judges of the Supreme Court, or not."
The enactment of the bill into law may prevent Justice Yitzhak Amit from being appointed the next president of the Supreme Court after the current president, Justice Esther Hayut retires in about a year.