25 August 2016
Polish Constitutional Tribunal goes down with dignity
On 11 of August 2016 the Polish Constitutional Tribunal (“Tribunal”) decided case K 39/16 in which it disqualified, for the second time in the span of 5 months, court-packing provisions contained in the Law of 22 July, 2016 on the Constitutional Tribunal. Separation of powers, judicial independence and effective functioning of the constitutional court were again the keywords that informed the analysis. After this most recent case the clock is ticking on the Tribunal and this time the self-defense by way of courageous judicial pronouncements might not be enough to survive. Continue reading >>
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25 July 2016
Statutory tinkering: on the Senate’s changes to the Law on the Polish Constitutional Tribunal
The infamous law on the Polish Constitutional Tribunal of July 7th has met with an outcry of criticism among constitutional scholars. Last week, the upper chamber of the Polish Parliament, the Senate, has introduced a number of changes to meet some of the concerns. On the whole the effort amounts to little more than statutory tinkering, though. The effect, the emasculation of constitutional control in Poland, remains unchanged. Continue reading >>
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15 July 2016
“What is Going on in Poland is an Attack against Democracy”
"A constitutional coup d'état": Wojciech Sadurski, one of Poland's foremost jurisprudence scholars, dissects the strategy of the Polish government to disembowel the Polish Constitutional Tribunal. Continue reading >>09 July 2016
Farewell to the Polish Constitutional Court
The Law of July, 7th 2016 on the Polish Constitutional Court leaves no doubts that the parliamentary majority lead by Law and Justice party (PiS) is not holding back and is determined to see its plan through to make sure that Court is finally tamed and incapacitated. The Law signals the death knell for the Court. The institution once recognized as powerful, efficient and independent from whatever powers that be is left at the mercy of the politicians, and unable to effectively wield its power of judicial review. Most importantly, the Law will make it impossible for the Court to provide an effective check on the excesses of parliamentary majority. Continue reading >>08 July 2016
Wie kommt die FAZ darauf, dass “Warschau auf Kritiker zugeht”?
Polens Regierung will uns glauben machen, die Verfassungskrise sei mit dem jüngsten Gesetz zur Reform der Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit aus der Welt geschafft - und nicht wenige Medien fallen drauf rein. Dabei ist das Gegenteil richtig. Continue reading >>30 June 2016
A Citizens’ Attempt to Solve the Polish Constitutional Crisis
Polish civil society groups have drafted a bill regarding the Act on the Constitutional Tribunal, expecting that the governing party PiS does not intend to legally solve the severe constitutional crisis it has created. We document the speech the representative of these groups, Jaroslaw Marciniak, gave in the Sejm on June 9th 2016. Continue reading >>29 March 2016
“Emergency Constitutional Review”: thinking the unthinkable? A Letter from America
With the constitution and the rule of law in Poland under systemic attack and the Constitutional Court weakened by the refusal of the government to publish its decisions, ordinary judges should step in and, if need be, declare unconstitutional laws inapplicable by themselves. An example for this sort of emergency constitutional review has already been set by the Polish Supreme Court in a decision of March 17th. Continue reading >>
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18 December 2015
“Court-packing” in Warsaw: The Plot Thickens
The wheels of Polish constitutional upheaval keep rolling relentlessly and in one direction – to the full dismantling and paralyzing the Constitutional Court and all it stands for. However, it is not just the tempo itself of the legislative process that is out of ordinary, but the ruthlessness with which the new majority carries out its plan. A new chapter in obliterating the Court was added on 15th of December, 2015 when the majority came forward with a draft of the amendments to the Law on the Constitutional Court. Continue reading >>
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