• In an infringement procedure against the law on the Supreme Court under Article 258 of the Treaty initiated by the Commission on 2 July 2018, the Polish government was given 30 days to amend the violations of the Treaty by halting the dismissal of the Supreme Court’s judges;

 

• Until 24 July, devastation of the Supreme Court only accelerated: judges were being removed from their posts and new laws were adopted in express mode to pack the Supreme Court and replace its first chief justice;

 

• It was a deliberate effort by the ruling majority to take over the Supreme Court before the EU Court of Justice had a chance to assess the law on the Supreme Court; situation begded interim measures by the Commission halting the unconstitutional takeover of the Supreme Court;

 

This analysis was written for the ideaForum of the Stefan Batory Foundation
Full document can be found here: Devastation of Poland’s Supreme Court and judicial independence: the situation now, published July 24, 2018
 
The authors, Maria Ejchart-Dubois, Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram, Paulina Kieszkowska-Knapik, Michał Wawrykiewicz are members of the #Free Courts Initiative, a civil society group of Polish lawyers seeking to preserve the independence of the Polish judiciary.