Tag: Andrzej Duda

President Andrzej Duda has issued a regulation silencing the old judges of the Supreme Court and restricting their initiative.  In exchange, it strengthens the position of President Manowska and the new judges. It also sanctions the principle of non-disclosure of cases in the Supreme 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.

President Andrzej Duda wants to ensure he has the right to appoint commissioners to temporarily take over the ‘old’ chambers of the Supreme Court. And that the first president will be able to appoint the benches in cases initiated by her.

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.

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.

Kaczyński’s outburst of 4 June 2020 has a political dimension and may be harmful to President Duda’s campaign

Jarosław Kaczyński’s party pushed for presidential elections on the 10th of May at all costs. The plan backfired. The election will be most likely be held on the 28th of June or at the beginning of July. An explainer about the biggest political crisis in Poland’s recent history

Constitutional law professor accuses the President of the Republic of Poland of breaching several provisions of the Constitution of Poland by appointing Małgorzata Manowska the new First President of the Supreme Court

Under the presidency of Małgorzata Manowska, the Supreme Court will no longer be a redoubt defending the judiciary’s independence, but it’s possible that it will not share the fate of the Constitutional Tribunal under Julia Przyłębska. However, the appointment of the Supreme Court’s former spokesman Michał Laskowski as president of the Criminal Chamber is a surprise.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights expresses its adamant objection to the bill presented by a group of MPs introducing voting by post in the general election to the office of President of the Republic of Poland in 2020.