Two will be selected in a month; candidates include former attorney-general Mazuz, Olmert and Pinto's lawyer.
By LAHAV HARKOVJustice Minister Tzipi Livni speaks to the press in Jerusalem.(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Justice Ministry released an official list of 15 candidates for the Supreme Court on Sunday.Judicial Selection Committee will choose two Supreme Court justices on September 22, ahead of Supreme Court President Asher Grunis’s retirement, planned for January, and after justice Edna Arbel resigned in June.Judges are selected by a majority of seven out of nine members of the committee, which is made up of Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Communications Minister Gilad Erdan, Grunis, Supreme Court Justices Elyakim Rubinstein and Esther Hayut, opposition MKs Yitzhak Cohen (Shas) and Isaac Herzog (Labor) and two Bar Association members, Rachel Ben-Ari and Khaled Zoabi.Four district court presidents are candidates: David Heshin of Jerusalem, Devora Berliner of Tel Aviv, Yosef Alon of Beersheba and Yitzhak Cohen of Nazareth.It is assumed that Heshin, 66, and Berliner, 67, have lowered chances of selection, as Supreme Court justices are required to retire by 70.Eight district court judges are also in the running to be part of the Supreme Court: Nava Bar-Or of Jerusalem, Yael Zilber of Haifa, Revital Yafeh Katz of Beersheba, as well as Anat Baron, Michal Agmon Gonen, Ruth Ronen, Khaled Kabub and George Kra of Tel Aviv.Hayut has recused herself from participation in discussions on Baron, because they are friends.Three candidates come from outside of the courts: Professor Barak Medina of Hebrew University, former attorney-general Menahem Mazuz, and Eyal Rozovsky, the only private attorney on the list, who represented former prime minister Ehud Olmert and Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto in corruption cases Mazuz is thought to be Justice Minister Tzipi Livni’s preferred candidate, and has been previously nominated when then-Supreme Court president Dorit Beinisch recommended him for the job in 2011.Livni is also thought to prefer a woman for the second open Supreme Court slot.
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