The High Court of Justice announced Wednesday that it would hold an urgent session to rule on a petition demanding Justice Minister Tzipi Livni convene the Judicial Appointments Committee in order to fill the vacant seats in the Supreme Court.

The petition was submitted by former journalist Ben-Zion Tzitrin through attorney Haim Stenger after it was announced that the Judicial Appointments Committee had postponed its meeting scheduled for January 31. It also became clear that Livni had not planned to address the issue of Supreme Court candidates during the meeting.

The petition calls on Livni to convene the Judicial Appointments Committee and appoint judges absent from throughout the court system, including the Supreme Court, by the end of March.

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Justice Edmund Levy, who was on duty when the petition was submitted, said an urgent session on the matter would be held next Monday. Livni and the prosecution were given until the same date to respond to the petition.

The High Court session will take place two days before the final date given to the Judicial Appointments Committee to publish the names of candidates, as scheduled in accordance with the planned January 31 meeting.

The petition also calls for a temporary injunction requiring Livni to publish the candidates' names in order to allow the committee to meet on the scheduled date.

In a letter sent last week to Livni, Stenger said "the lack of justice appointments to the courts, as demanded and obligated, harms law and justice in Israel."