• The report examines whether the Constitutional Tribunal, after the amendments in the legal basis for its functioning and after replacement of the justices and the President of the CT, indeed acts efficiently and in accordance with the Constitution and statutes;

 

• The report contains the statistics concerning the number of cases and judgments, analysis of the legal basis for and the practice of disqualifying CT justices and discusses the Tribunal’s practice of changing the adjudicating panels;

 

• Following the amendments in its composition and procedures, the Tribunal in 2017 effected the unprecedented and significant drop in the number of cases referred to it and a considerable reduction of its adjudicating activity;

 

• On the basis of data presented in report, it becomes obvious that adjudicating panel selection and many of disqualification motions aim to ensure domination of CT justices elected by the current parliamentary majority. It justifies concerns about the possibility of the current CT management using its powers to achieve a specific decision on the merits.

 

Full English abstract can be found here: Functioning of the Constitutional Tribunal 2014-2017 Report of the Stefan Batory Foundation Legal Expert Group,
Full report in Polish can be found here: Funkcjonowanie Trybunału Konstytucyjnego w latach 2014–2017,
published in 2018