Tag: Constitutional Tribunal

“Thou shalt not be indifferent. The ghost of an authoritarian state stands at the door of your home. It will not knock on the door. It will come in uninvited. And it will stay a long time.” – reminds professor Mirosław Wyrzykowski, former judge of the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland and an outstanding legal authority

On 3 July, the President of Poland Andrzej Duda visited Lwówek Śląski and gave a speech in which he criticized the activity of the Constitutional Tribunal, whose ruling from 2014 recognized the conformity of a gradual increase in the retirement age with the Polish Constitution.

Polish constitutional court delivered a ruling concerning the National Council of the Judiciary. The judgement might be crucial for the preliminary reference proceedings pending before the Court of Justice of the EU.

The Polish Constitutional Court, once a proud institution and an effective check on the will of the majority, is now a shell of its former self

Provisions subordinating the judiciary to the executive (including disciplinary proceedings against judges), which are completely incompatible with European standards, are still in place.

Explanation and interpretation of the nature and possible causes of the the “Polish constitutional crisis”, i.e. backsliding on the part of Poland into authoritarianism. Firstly, historical – unique nature of the Polish transition from Communism to democracy. Secondly, legal explanation ascribes the crisis to the immaturity of Polish legal culture, in particular its excessive formalism. Third explanation is sociological and interprets the Crisis as one of liberal values in contemporary Polish society.

How is it that suddenly, out of nowhere, Poland, the precocious child of transformation, seems to be returning to the culture of mono-power?

A dramatic change occurred in Polish constitutional politics in 2015: a combined presidential and
parliamentary victory of the populist Law and Justice party [PiS] began a series of deep political and
legal changes which turned the constitutional order on its head in many respects.
In this paper, I provide a detailed account of how comprehensive and momentous the legal changes
are, in particular going so far as to dismantle institutional checks on the government (including
paralysis the Constitution al Tribunal, and then conversion of it into an active supporter of the government) and
to erode a number of individual and political rights, such as the right to assembly and privacy.

Last month, the new Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pushed two bills through parliament that gave his government and his party increased control over Poland’s courts. Just before the laws were signed by Polish President Andrzej Duda on Dec. 20, Morawiecki chose to address the American people and defend this decision in the pages of the Washington Examiner.