Fogelman Warns Supreme Court Workload Is Delaying Justice for Litigants

Retired acting Supreme Court president Uzi Fogelman has warned that the court's heavy workload is prolonging proceedings for ordinary litigants. A newly published account of the court's staffing and caseload describes 11 serving judges against an authorized complement of 15, with four seats unfilled. “Ultimately, delays in justice can become a miscarriage of justice,” Fogelman said. He described the consequences for people awaiting decisions in family disputes, business matters, contract cases and medical-negligence proceedings. The account puts average civil-case handling time at 18.4 months in its 2026 figures, compared with 14.4 months in 2023. It also describes June 2028 as the hearing date currently being assigned to an ordinary civil case filed now. The workload figures show proceedings opened rising from a longstanding level of roughly 10,000 to approximately 14,000. High Court case-handling time increased from 3.6 months in 2023 to 6.6 months in the cited 2026 figures. Only one registrar is currently serving, handling preliminary procedural applications and questions involving fees and security requirements. The vacancies followed the retirements of Esther Hayut, Anat Baron, Fogelman and Yosef Elron. Disagreements between Justice Minister Yariv Levin and the Supreme Court leadership have left the appointments unresolved. Levin's preferred candidates include Rafi Bitton and Aviad Bakshi, whom the justices opposed. The account also describes two procedural pilots introduced during 2025–2026 that shortened proceedings while adding to judges' workloads.