The President of the Constitutional Tribunal, Bogdan Święczkowski, has requested the judges’ disciplinary spokesman to examine court rulings in which, among other things, the recognition of Constitutional Tribunal judgments was refused or the legality of the election of Tribunal judges was questioned; he wants these rulings to be assessed in terms of disciplinary misconduct by judges.
The President of the Constitutional Tribunal submitted a letter of notification – concerning a query of the case law of common courts – to the deputy disciplinary spokesman for judges of common courts – Przemysław Radzik.
As we read in Wednesday's announcement by the Constitutional Tribunal posted on the Tribunal's website, the aim of the motion is to initiate a broad analysis of judgments in which “a review of the Constitutional Tribunal's case law was carried out without a legal basis, the recognition of Constitutional Tribunal judgments as final and generally binding was refused, or the status of Constitutional Tribunal judges and the legality of their election was questioned.”
Moreover, the President of the Constitutional Tribunal requested in his letter that Radzik assess the conduct of judges who did not recognise the judgments of the Constitutional Tribunal from the perspective of the possibility of committing a disciplinary offence.
“The action of the President of the Constitutional Tribunal constitutes an expression of opposition to the contribution of public authorities to deepening legal chaos and is justified by particular concern to guarantee the Constitutional Tribunal its due position in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland” – it was emphasized in a press release on the Constitutional Tribunal's website.
The President of the Constitutional Tribunal has previously indicated that there is a discrepancy between common courts regarding the recognition of the Tribunal's judgments. As he said, according to one part of the common courts, the Constitutional Tribunal's judgments are binding from the moment they are announced at a hearing, while according to the other – these judgments are not binding because they are not published in the Journal of Laws.
A year ago – in March 2024 – the Sejm adopted a resolution in which it stated that “taking into account in the activities of a public authority body decisions of the Constitutional Tribunal issued in violation of the law may be considered a violation of the principle of legalism by these bodies”. The resolution also stated, among other things, that due to the resolutions of the Sejm from December 2015 on the election of Constitutional Tribunal judges, which were adopted in gross violation of the law – Mariusz Muszyński, Jarosław Wyrembak and Justyn Piskorski are not judges of the Constitutional Tribunal. Since the adoption of that resolution by the Sejm, Constitutional Tribunal judgments have not been published in the Journal of Laws.
In turn, the government resolution adopted in December 2024 stated, among other things, that publishing Constitutional Tribunal decisions in official journals could lead to the consolidation of the rule of law crisis. It added that “it is not permissible to publish documents that were issued by an unauthorized body.”
Back in May 2021, the European Court of Human Rights found that Poland had violated the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights in the case of Xero Flor – the right to a fair trial and the right to a court established by law. The company sued the State Treasury. After unfavorable court judgments, the case went to the Constitutional Tribunal, which dismissed it, and the decision was signed by then-judge Mariusz Muszyński. The company filed a complaint with the ECtHR regarding the composition of the judges who heard its case in the Constitutional Tribunal. The Strasbourg court found, among other things, that the Constitutional Tribunal was ruled by a judge who had no right to do so and ruled that Poland should pay the company EUR 3,418 in compensation.
In January this year, President Święczkowski, in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, demanded the publication of 22 Constitutional Tribunal judgments issued in 2024. “The judgment enters into force on the day of its announcement by the Constitutional Tribunal” – the Constitutional Tribunal judges repeat in connection with the announcement of individual judgments. (PAP)
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