This is a precedent-setting and sensational judgment. For the first time, a Polish court has directly challenged a decision of the illegal Disciplinary Chamber. The judgment of the court in Olsztyn is immediately enforceable, which means that Pawel Juszczyszyn can return to work in court.

In precedent-setting judgments, the Supreme Administrative Court undermined the validity of the selection of the new Supreme Court judges. It ruled that the recruitment to the Supreme Court was defective from the outset, while the new NCJ, which gave the nominations, was dependent on the politicians. The Supreme Administrative Court’s judgments have now opened the door to declaring the new Supreme Court judges illegal.

The illegal Disciplinary Chamber will decide as early as on 6 May whether to lift Professor Włodzimierz Wróbel’s immunity and allow him to be prosecuted, after he ran for the office of president of the Supreme Court. The decision will be made by former prosecutors associated with Ziobro and a supporter of the PiS government 

The National Prosecutor’s Office is about to ambush the old, legal Supreme Court. It has demanded that the Criminal Chamber hand over the files of 25 cases because it is conducting a political investigation of the Supreme Court. The chairman of the Criminal Chamber, Michał Laskowski, a dozen or so judges from that Chamber and even former Supreme Court President Gersdorf would be threatened with criminal charges.

The National Prosecutor’s Office has unexpectedly asked the illegal Disciplinary Chamber to lift the immunity of three judges of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court. The list includes Professor Włodzimierz Wróbel, a fierce critic of the ‘good change’ in the courts and Małgorzata Manowska’s counter-candidate for the office of president of the Supreme Court. The prosecutor’s office wants to charge them for the mistakes of the employees of the Supreme Court.

The ban on recording columns was issued by Przemyslaw Radzik, Minister Ziobro’s man for prosecuting independent judges and his nominee in Poland’s largest court. Radzik did not like it that Tuleya wanted to record columns about courts and the rule of law for the civic Halo.Radio.

President Andrzej Duda has given a high promotion to Deputy Minister of Justice Anna Dalkowska. The President also promoted 58 people to Poland’s largest court, including Ziobro’s nominees and associates, as well as spouses and partners of the ‘good change’ judges

President Andrzej Duda has submitted a bill on the Supreme Court to the Sejm that would give him the right to introduce his ‘commissioners’, acting presidents, to the old chambers of the Supreme Court. Lawyers are concerned that this could be a way of blocking an important matter in the CJEU regarding the legality of the appointment of new Supreme Court judges.

Judge Tuleya will not come to the National Prosecutor’s Office for questioning for the second time. However, the Prosecutor’s Office is announcing that it will conduct ‘activities’ with respect to the judge. This means at least that he will be apprehended and brought to the prosecutor’s office by the police.

The special internal department of the National Prosecutor’s Office has called for a special investigation into seven judges from Cracow. All of them issued judgments concerning the prosecutor Mariusz Krasoń, who has been persecuted for displaying independence. This is a case of clear interference in the judges’ work, and of putting pressure on one of them.