Judges from Kraków and Słupsk, as well as judges’ associations, want justices promoted by the new National Council of the Judiciary to refrain from hearing cases. In Łódź, one such judge decided on his own to stop adjudicating, and the court’s president has stopped assigning him new cases. This is a reaction to the historic resolution taken by the College of the Supreme Court.

The following is an English translation of the decision taken by Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal to suspend the Supreme Court resolution of 23 January.

The Supreme Court’s resolution avoids the competence dispute that political decisions sought to force it into. In its resolution of 23 January, it explained what an independent court is. It also told judges to be careful when ruling, for them to be sure they and their colleagues are all above board.

Polish President Andrzej Duda’s recent remarks on judges have provoked a fierce response. “The suggestion that judges are irresponsible and ‘should be eliminated’ because otherwise ‘Poland will never be a normal country’ is an example of hate speech, which can lead to violence directed against individual judges,” writes Iustitia, the largest association of judges in Poland.

Poland’s Supreme Court has adopted a resolution on the legality of judicial appointments made by the reconstituted National Council of the Judiciary and on rulings by the new Disciplinary Chamber. What follows is a translation of that ruling into English.

A disciplinary officer for line prosecutors has initiated disciplinary proceedings against Katarzyna Gembalczyk, one of the leaders of the Lex Super Omnia prosecutors’ association, with a critical stance towards Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro. The disciplinary officer is demanding an explanation for why she was dressed in her robe during the Thousand Robes March. “I was performing my duty to defend the rule of law.”

Respect for the rule of law is one of the key conditions for EU membership. No country can join or remain in the EU without an independent judiciary.

On 23 January, a panel composed of three chambers of the Supreme Court will decide whether judges nominated by the new, politicized National Council of the Judiciary should be allowed to adjudicate. The “legacy” justices of the Supreme Court in the Civil, Criminal, and Labour Law chambers were asked by First President of the Supreme Court Małgorzata Gersdorf to rule on the issue. Their resolution will be binding on the Supreme Court.

As far as I can remember, this is the first time that judges from the Netherlands have joined a silent march at all. Marching together with other judges from Europe in another country is unique. And I know it is politically sensitive. It emphasizes how much we are worried about what’s going on in Poland and elsewhere in Europe,” a senior judge of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal explained his reasons for joining Polish colleagues in a silent protest in Warsaw against curbing the independence of judges in Poland.

“I feel ashamed when I see that the First President of the Supreme Court can say such things about Poland. Ashamed that someone like that was ever appointed to that office. Thankfully, this will soon change.” This is how Polish President Andrzej Duda referred on government-controlled TVP to the First President of the Supreme Court, professor Małgorzata Gersdorf