Donald Tusk has countersigned President Duda’s decree appointing a neo-judge as the chairperson of the Assembly of Judges of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court, which is tasked with electing a new Chief Justice of the Chamber. “Supreme Court judges are devastated and stunned. They feel betrayed,” comments Krystian Markiewicz, President of Iustitia.

Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar has requested the Venice Commission’s opinion on two proposed models for addressing the neo-judges problem. Dr. Anna Wójcik explains the nature of the dispute and the potential significance of the Venice Commission’s opinion.

The new government is clearly signaling to both the Polish and global public opinion, as well as to EU institutions and the Council of Europe, that it will abide by the rulings of the CJEU and the ECHR.

The Court of Justice of the EU accepted all of the European Commission’s allegations and held that the Muzzle Act that tightens the disciplinary system for judges is incompatible with EU law. And that not only the Chamber of Control of the Supreme Court is to have the right to perform ‘independence tests’

The European Commission is accusing Poland that the Constitutional Tribunal is breaching the legal order of the European Union and the rights of EU citizens with its rulings. The Commission is also contesting the choice of the ‘stand-ins’ and Julia Przyłębska as President of the Constitutional Tribunal. That is why it is referring the case to the EU Court of Justice. What happens next? Our explainer.

The European Court of Human Rights will rule on the cases of eight people who were recommended by the ‘old’, legal National Council of the Judiciary to the Supreme Court, among others, whereas President Duda refused to appoint them without giving reasons.

Just like the Prime Minister’s motion and the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of 7 October, the prosecutor general’s motion in case K 7/21 contains criticism of the European Court of Human Rights acts, that are nowhere to be found in the courts’ case law.

‘The authorities will try to use the carrot-and-stick method: a stick for those judges who are fighting for the rule of law, and a carrot for those they try to persuade over to them,’ believes Judge Waldemar Żurek. We discuss scenarios of further changes in courts and judges’ reactions to them

The Constitutional Tribunal, headed by Julia Przyłębska, ruled that the CJEU’s interpretation of Articles 1 and 19 of the EU Treaty is incompatible with the Constitution. The Prime Minister used the Constitutional Tribunal to block judges from invoking CJEU judgments and to have a para-argument in the negotiations with the European Commission.

The Constitutional Tribunal presided over by former PiS MP Stanisław Piotrowicz ruled that the CJEU’s interim orders on the structure of courts in Poland are inconsistent with the Polish constitution. During the hearing, the CJEU suspended the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court with such a ruling.