On Friday, the Sejm elected six judges of the Constitutional Tribunal – their candidacies were proposed by the Presidium of the Sejm. Two candidates nominated by the PiS club did not gain support. After the Sejm elected the Constitutional Tribunal judges, Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek appealed to President Karol Nawrocki “not to try to violate the constitution” and took the oath of office from the six selected Constitutional Tribunal judges. He also announced that the ministry had a “plan B” if the president did not take the oath.
Włodzimierz Czarzasty about taking oaths in the Constitutional Tribunal
At Monday’s press conference, Czarzasty was asked about the possible implementation of this plan and the judges taking the oath before an authority other than the president. – When it comes to taking the oath from judges of the Constitutional Tribunal, under all regulations, President Nawrocki should do it. And I’m waiting for it, said the Speaker of the Sejm. Remarking on what will happen if the president does not take this oath, Czarzasty asked why anyone thinks that “President Nawrocki will break the law or refuse to take the oath.”
New judges of the Constitutional Tribunal
On Friday, the following were elected judges of the Constitutional Tribunal: judge, Krystian Markiewicz, former chairman of the codification committee of the system of justice and prosecutor’s office at the Ministry of Justice; Ph.D. legal sciences, prof. at the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences Maciej Taborowski; Ph.D. legal sciences, prof. at the Department of Civil Procedure at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, Marcin Dziurda (all three recommended by KO); judge, previously president of the District Court in Opole, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska (recommended by the Left); Ph.D. prof. Dariusz Szostek of the University of Silesia (recommended by Polska 2050), as well as lawyer Dr. Magdalena Bentkowska (recommended by PSL).
Doubts of the Presidential Palace and PiS
According to the law, judges should be sworn in by the president. However, it is not known whether and when Karol Nawrocki will accept the oath from the six judges. When asked about this on Friday by journalists in the Sejm, the head of the president’s office, Zbigniew Bogucki, did not answer directly. He admitted, however, that the parliamentary majority could supplement the Constitutional Tribunal “step by step, in accordance with the constitution.”
– But you didn’t want to do it because the Constitutional Tribunal, where you did not have a majority, would not be under the thumb of your government and the Prime Minister. Now you see this as a chance to arrest the Constitutional Tribunal within 48 hours and elect your candidates as quickly as possible. The president will certainly not allow this, said Bogucki. During Monday’s press conference at the Presidential Palace, Bogucki, among others, repeated his reservations regarding the procedure for selecting Constitutional Tribunal judges.
PiS MPs question the constitutionality of Friday’s election, claiming that it violates, among others, simultaneous election of as many as six judges. In their opinion, they should be elected individually, due to the end of the term of office of their predecessors. In February, PiS MPs submitted a motion to the Constitutional Tribunal questioning the constitutionality of the law regulating the election of Constitutional Tribunal judges. The tribunal is scheduled to hear this application on Tuesday, March 17.
The subject of the dispute is also the question of when an elected judge of the Constitutional Tribunal is considered a judge. Maciej Tomczykiewicz (KO), who spoke during Friday’s votes, argued that the election by the Sejm is decisive, while the president’s swearing in is only of protocol nature.
Read on Wyborcza.pl: Operation “Muppets”. We reveal how the CBA tried to destroy the president of Sopot.
Edited by Kamila Cieślik
