Until further notice: Supreme Court forbids Levin from appointing a new head of the PID

The Supreme Court has forbidden Minister of Justice Yariv Levin from appointing a new head of the Police Investigation Department (PID) for the time being. In a ruling published as part of the petitions regarding the PID law, the Supreme Court ordered:

"Until an assessment is provided on the interim requests, no new actions will be taken to advance the relevant appointments."

This means that Levin will not be able to appoint a new head of the PID or advance the selection process until a different decision is reached by the Supreme Court. It was previously reported that Levin intended to notify the court that he was continuing the selection process despite the election period. The Minister of Justice's main argument is that the new PID law was passed in June, before the official announcement of the Knesset elections, and therefore the restraint required from government ministers regarding substantive decisions or senior appointments does not apply to this law.

Levin insisted that the tender for selecting the new head of the PID, for which he had extended the deadline for candidate submissions, would continue. According to him, if the previous government appointed a Chief of Staff during the 2022 election period and received Supreme Court approval, then the current government can appoint a head of the PID through a professional committee that includes no politicians.

Conversely, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who joined the petitioners against the law and its immediate implementation, asked the Supreme Court to issue an interim order to halt the appointment until a comprehensive decision on the law is reached. About two weeks ago, the Attorney General informed the Supreme Court that advancing the appointment of a PID head constitutes an implementation of the law, even though it is presented as having a deferred application until the next Knesset.

The Movement for Quality Government stated that it welcomes the Supreme Court's decision:

"This is an important decision that preserves the independence of the law enforcement system at this stage and prevents the Minister of Justice from carrying out a hasty move during an election period. The PID must be a professional and independent body, not one subject to political influence. It is forbidden to allow the Minister of Justice to appoint a head for six years through a mechanism where the minister and the director-general of his ministry have decisive influence, before the court has ruled on the petitions against the law."