25 January 2021
A Weapon the Government Can Control
In 2020 the degradation of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal’s position deepened. This stage of the crisis of the constitutional judiciary in Poland can be illustrated with two rulings from 2020 Continue reading >>
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12 November 2020
A Tragic Constitutional Court Judgment on Abortion
Ewa Łętowska examines the Polish Constitutional Court's judgement on abortion and finds that it shows how far the country has moved towards religious and moral fundamentalism. The ruling creates a wobbly, unclear and hypocritical legal state. Continue reading >>03 November 2020
Populist but not Popular
After the judgment of the PiS-controlled Constitutional Tribunal, the sharp drop in support for PiS in the latest polls makes the ruling camp try panically to minimize the political losses it has suffered. One symptom of that panic is the fact that the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal has not yet been published. Another is draft law submitted by the PiS-aligned President Duda slightly alleviating the effects of the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal. All this proves how deep the crisis of the rule of law and how blurred the border between law and politics in Poland have become. Continue reading >>30 October 2020
Livid in Warsaw
Why the protests against the "abortion judgment" are a lot more than just that Continue reading >>
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24 October 2020
A Dubious Judgment by a Dubious Court
On 22 October 2020 Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, dominated by judges appointed under the procedure introduced by the ruling right-wing populist PiS party, has determined that abortion due to foetal defects is unconstitutional, rejecting the most common of the few legal grounds for pregnancy termination. This ruling is very controversial and caused civil disquiet and protests. Continue reading >>14 October 2020
The Ombudsman before the Polish Constitutional Tribunal
On 9th September 2020, the 5-years term of the current Polish Ombudsman (Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich, Commissioner for Human Rights) Adam Bodnar, has ended. The Parliament did not select a new person for this position yet. Thus, following the Article 3.6 of the Law on the Commissioner, Professor Bodnar stays in the office until the appointment of the new Commissioner for Human Rights. However a group of MPs demands the Constitutional Court to delete this legal basis, leaving the office without its head. The Court wants to decide on this case on 20th October. Continue reading >>
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23 September 2020
LawRules #1: We need to talk about Constitutional Courts
Constitutional courts are under attack in many countries in Europe and beyond. Why? And why now? What can be done to protect them, and what are the most important conditions for constitutional courts to function? These are the questions we discuss in the first episode of our new podcast with three guests, two of them former constitutional judges with first-hand experience on these matters, and one a scholar who has written an outstanding book on the German Bundesverfassungsgericht. Continue reading >>23 April 2020
Corona Constitutional #15: Polen, die EU und das letzte Wort
Unser heutiges Thema hat mit Corona unmittelbar gar nicht so viel zu tun, mit Krise dafür um so mehr: Es geht um Polen, um das polnische Verfassungsgericht, das in dieser Woche ein Urteil gefällt hat, das, sagen wir mal, erklärungsbedürftig ist. Dieses Urteil, um das Ergebnis vorweg zu nehmen, springt nicht nur mit dem polnischen Verfassungsrecht, sondern auch und vor allem mit dem Europarecht auf beispiellos brachiale Weise um. Darüber spricht Max Steinbeis mit einem Europarechtler, der sich sowohl mit dem Verhältnis von nationaler Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit zum EU-Recht als auch mit dem speziellen Fall Polen viel beschäftigt hat und obendrein ein langjähriger Freund und Autor des Verfassungsblogs ist, nämlich FRANZ MAYER von der Uni Bielefeld. Continue reading >>05 February 2020
You Can’t Forbid Judges to Think
The Polish judiciary is split apart. One part adheres to the ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU of 19th November 2019, another does not. This legal chaos and catastrophe was caused by the recent judicial reforms and it deprives citizens of the most important right – to be certain what their legal situation in court is. Continue reading >>
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18 August 2019