Israel’s Knesset witnessed unprecedented political and legal drama the evening of March 23 as Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein refused to heed the directive set by the High Court to hold by March 25 a vote for his replacement.

Edelstein rebuffed the court, arguing that any intervention by the judicial authorities in the operation of the Knesset would be tainted as politically motivated. “I think that any intervention by the court with the judgment of the Knesset speaker on fixing the agenda of the plenum and setting up for vote for his replacement constitutes an unprecedented interference in the parliament’s agenda,” said Edelstein, declining to commit to a date for convening the Knesset plenum and holding the vote.

Faced with Edelstein’s refusal, the High Court must decide whether or not to take an extra step of ordering the speaker to proceed with the vote. To this point, the court has directed Edelstein to allow the Knesset to discuss electing a new speaker by March 25 in order to avoid a ruling on the issue. The Likud and the right-wing bloc argue that this constitutes a legal coup, and some Likud senior officials even called on Edelstein to reject any instructions by the court. Edelstein, a Likud member, has been speaker since 2013.

The Knesset is supposed to elect a speaker following each election; Israel held inconclusive elections March 2. Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz has been tasked with trying to form a government.