The Chamber of Labour has asked the CJEU to consider the status of the ‘new’ Supreme Court judges, as well as the bans on judges in the ‘muzzle’ act adopted by PiS. It has also requested the CJEU to consider its preliminary questions under an accelerated procedure

The day after the presidential election, you could hear announcements from the government camp that its national-Catholic revolution will be completed. In the first wave, there will be a reckoning with the free media, and the courts will have their final takeover. The government could also take control of schools and universities

Competitive and well-organized Polish presidential run-off marred by confrontation, media bias and misuse of resources, international observers say

Independence of the judiciary and the rule of law have been almost completely absent from the presidential campaign in Poland. But the result of the elections will fundamentally affect these areas. We discuss two scenarios: if the incumbent president Andrzej Duda wins, and if his challenger Rafał Trzaskowski wins.

Concerted effort of the CJEU and the ECtHR may result in the hindering of some of the negative effects of changes in the judiciary. So far it has been the CJEU that has been active, with the courageous involvement of national judges and civil society – writes prof. Adam Bodnar, the Commissioner for Human Rights

Two disciplinary hearings for Judge Waldemar Żurek will be held at the Court of Appeal in Katowice on Friday, 3 July. Each of them applies to different charges which the disciplinary commissioners have brought against the judge. Only eight people will be able to enter the courtroom each time as the public. The hearings will be held one after the other. Such an order was issued by the president of the Katowice Court of Appeal – Witold Mazur, nominated by Zbigniew Ziobro, privately, the brother of the head of the new NCJ.

“We expect an amendment that will provide effective protection against attacks motivated by prejudice, including on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity, age, gender and disability; that is, those discriminatory features that currently do not have any such protection in Polish law” – distinguished Polish lawyers appeal to candidates in the election to become President of the Republic of Poland

The Chamber of Extraordinary Verification and Public Affairs (IKNiSP) has revoked a resolution by the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) which recommended judge Dariusz Pawłyszcze, a judge associated with Zbigniew Ziobro’s Ministry of Justice, to sit on the Supreme Court. The National Council of the Judiciary justified its decision in terms of the “favourable opinion of the Minister of Justice”, among other things. Judge Waldemar Żurek has appealed against the KRS’s resolution.

In my opinion, each of the two points of the CJEU order is sufficient for the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court to stop all judicial activity with regard to judges, until the final judgment is delivered by the CJEU or until the safeguard order is amended, Adam Bodnar emphasizes.

This is not the first time that we have escaped from the bounds of the Constitution simply to avoid implementing functions of the state that have been established by the nation – warns prof. Mirosław Wyrzykowski