22 April 2021
And Now His Watch Is Ended
When democratic institutions are captured by an authoritarian government, they not only cease to hold the government accountable, or even restrain its megalomaniacal tendencies, but can be actively used to capture other democratic institutions. This was recently the case in Poland, as the ruling "Law and Justice" party removed a particularly annoying irritant: the Polish Citizens’ Rights Ombudsman, Dr. Adam Bodnar. Continue reading >>
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05 May 2020
Plague President
Between the 16th and 19th centuries, city councils appointed plague doctors to assist those suffering from the Black Death. Now, in the 21st century, we are about to appoint a plague president in Poland. The governing Law and Justice (PiS) party is refusing to postpone the presidential election, scheduled for May 10, even though the COVID-19 pandemic is rampant. This is both detrimental to public health and unconstitutional. Continue reading >>
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12 December 2019
Burning the Last Bridge to Europe
The Polish legal system is infected by a virulent pathogen, viz. the neoKRS, which spreads its spores with each judicial appointment. The only deduction to be drawn from the recent CJEU verdict and the subsequent ruling of the Polish Supreme Court is that the neoKRS is an illegally constituted body that illegally appoints judges who deliver invalid judgments. The more illegally appointed judges, the greater the number of invalid judgments. Any government that valued the integrity of the nation’s legal system would set about healing such a sick system without delay. Continue reading >>
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18 October 2019
The Polish Senate under Opposition Control
The Polish Senate is not going to open with a prayer, but it might well close with an investigation: What the loss of its majority in the second chamber of Parliament could entail for PiS rule and it's attacks against the rule of law. Continue reading >>13 May 2018
10 Facts on Poland for the Consideration of the European Court of Justice
In June, the European Court of Justice is to decide whether, despite massive legislative changes, the Polish judiciary is still independent and therefore able to ensure a fair trial to people extradited to Poland on the basis of a European Arrest Warrant. Marcin Matczak, a Polish lawyer, uses the old tradition of the amicus curiae letter – a letter from a friend of the court – to depict the situation of the Polish judiciary in 2018. Continue reading >>07 May 2018
A Constitutional Referendum to Delegitimize the Constitution
President Andrzej Duda has just announced that on 10 and 11 November a referendum will be held in Poland on the need to amend the Constitution, in which he will put to the Polish people numerous questions arising from ongoing public consultations. This consultative referendum is an attempt to delegitimise the Constitution, on which the referendum’s own legitimacy is based. Continue reading >>
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01 March 2018
The Rule of Law in Poland: A Sorry Spectacle
With political appointments to its National Council of the Judiciary, Poland is now seeing the next step in the dismantling the rule of law. The change in the procedure for appointments to the Council was one of the reasons thousands of Poles took to the streets last summer to protest in the name of independent courts. Their fears have turned out to be well founded. Continue reading >>07 February 2018
Reviewing the Holocaust Bill: The Polish President and the Constitutional Tribunal
President Duda decided to sign off the controversial law allowing to punish those who publicly accuse the Polish nation and the Polish state of taking part in the Holocaust and in any war crimes. The law will now come into force – a circumstance which is unlikely to calm the international discussion it has generated. Having decided to sign the law, the President announced that he will file a motion to the Polish Constitutional Tribunal to check its constitutionality. If the president is aware that the law may be unconstitutional and has at his disposal legal tools to check it yet allows it to come into force, he can be accused of constitutional recklessness. Continue reading >>
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27 December 2017
Some Thoughts on Authoritarian Backsliding
In December I took part in a number of discussions, including at two interesting conferences – one in Nijmegen (the Netherlands) and the other in Berlin. Both of these conferences were on the subject of the return of authoritarianism in Central and Eastern Europe, and I believe the points raised at them are worth sharing. Continue reading >>29 September 2017
President Duda is Destroying the Rule of Law instead of Fixing it
Were the president of any country to propose acts of law that remove almost half of the members of its supreme court, interrupt the constitutional term of office of the chairperson of such court, give himself the right to appoint a new chairperson of the court, and finally, interrupt the constitutionally defined term of office of a judicial council responsible for appointing judges, the consequences of such manifestly unconstitutional solutions would be massive public opposition and accusations of a coup d’état. And yet in Poland, where this is exactly what is happening, the President’s proposals are met with understanding. Why? Because they are perceived as better than the even more unconstitutional proposals put forward earlier by the ruling party, Law and Justice. Continue reading >>
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