Tag: Supreme Court

New acting first president of the Supreme Court judge Kamil Zaradkiewicz asks the Supreme Court’s judges to refrain from public activity, in particular in the media

Dozens of EU and constitutional law professors and associations of judges and prosecutors urge the European Commission to act and to prevent irreversible changes that will de facto exclude Poland from the circle of European legal culture and western democracy

The National Prosecutor Bogdan Święczkowski, one of the Minister of Justice/ the Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro’s closest associates, has demanded clarification from the First President of the Supreme Court, Małgorzata Gersdorf. He wants to know why she suspended the Disciplinary Chamber’s power of adjudication. Święczkowski’s letter sets a dangerous and unprecedented precedent that can be seen as an attempt at intimidation or to bring criminal charges.

The Constitutional Tribunal, by a decision of its full bench, ruled that the resolution of the three combined chambers of the Supreme Court is incompatible with the constitution and international law. According to Professor and CJEU Judge Marek Safjan, this ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal is “highly disturbing” and can even threaten Poland’s membership in the European Union.

“Once again, the Constitutional Tribunal has attempted to frustrate the implementation of the CJEU judgment of 19 November 2019.”, stated the case directly judge Piotr Pszczółkowski who issued a dissenting opinion.

The CJEU has ruled that the Disciplinary Chamber of the Polish Supreme Court may not conduct disciplinary proceedings against judges or refer them to courts which do not meet the criterion of independence under Union law. The ruling is in force until the CJEU renders final judgment on the European Commission’s complaint against the Polish government. The judgment will be handed down in the second half of 2020.

Court of Justice holds that domestic courts are to review the independence of the new National Council of the Judiciary and the Disciplinary Chamber

The Disciplinary Chamber satisfies features of an exceptional court, despite its nominal inclusion in the structure of the Supreme Court. As a result, fundamental doubts arise as to whether the rulings issued by this chamber are judicial decisions in the meaning of the Constitution – argues prof. Włodzimierz Wróbel (Jagiellonian University)

Open Letter to the President of the European Commission regarding Poland’s disciplinary regime for judges and the urgent need for interim measures in Commission v Poland (C-791/19)

Thanks to the Association of Judges “Themis”, we publish the translation of oral justification of the Supreme Court judgment of 5 December 2019 in case in which it requested the Court of Justice for preliminary ruling of 19 November 2019