Constitutional Tribunal (Poland)

The Constitutional Tribunal (Polish: Trybunał Konstytucyjny [trɘˈbu.naw kɔn.stɘ.tuˈt͡sɘj.nɘ]) is the constitutional court of the Republic of Poland, a judicial body established to resolve disputes on the constitutionality of the activities of state institutions; its main task is to supervise the compliance of statutory law with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.

Constitutional Tribunal
Trybunał Konstytucyjny
Established	26 March 1982; 42 years ago (1982-03-26) – constitutional amendment establishing the Tribunal 1986 – beginning of the activity
Location	Warsaw, Poland
Composition method	Prime minister's nomination with Sejm confirmation. President and Vice President appointed by the President of Poland.
Authorised by	Constitution of the Republic of Poland
Judge term length	9 years, one term only
Number of positions	15
Language	Polish
Website	www.trybunal.gov.pl
President
Currently	vacat

The seat of the Tribunal, Warsaw

The seat of the Tribunal, Warsaw (2006)

Its creation was a request of the Solidarity movement following its 1981 National Congress that took place a few weeks before the introduction of martial law.^[1] The Tribunal was established on 26 March 1982 and judges took office on 1 January 1986.

The tribunal's powers increased in 1989 with the transition to the democratic Third Polish Republic and in 1997 with the establishment of a new Constitution.^[2] The Constitution mandates that its 15 members are elected by the Sejm, the lower house, for 9 years. It is the subject of an appointment crisis since 2015.

It should not be confused with the Supreme Court of Poland.

Powers

The Constitutional Tribunal adjudicates on the compliance with the Constitution of legislation and international agreements (also their ratification), on disputes over the powers of central constitutional bodies, and on compliance with the Constitution of the aims and activities of political parties. It also rules on constitutional complaints.^{[citation needed]}

Composition

The Constitutional Tribunal is made up of 15 judges chosen by the Sejm RP (the lower house of parliament) for single nine-year terms. The Constitutional Tribunal constitutes one of the formal guarantees of a state grounded on the rule of law.^{[citation needed]}

History

1982–1989: People's Republic of Poland

The Constitutional Tribunal was established by the amendment of the Constitution of the People's Republic of Poland on 26 March 1982.^[1] Due to the brevity of the introduced article 33a, it was decided that a law must be brought forth that would outline the proceedings of the Constitutional Tribunal.^[3] This became an intricate process with 15 drafts developed, and the final act was ratified by the Sejm on 29 April 1985 which allowed for the formal commencement of the Tribunal's judicial proceedings on 1 January 1986.^[3] But the courts competence and judicial capacity were limited at this time, as all rulings on the constitutionality of bills could be dismissed by a 2/3 majority vote in the Sejm.^[2] This in effect would place the rulings in an indefinite moratorium as these votes rarely occurred.^[2]

On 24 January 1986 the first motion, reference U 1/86, was brought before the Constitutional Tribunal on behalf of the Presidium of the Provincial National Council in Wrocław.^[3] The claimants sought to contend two paragraphs of the Ordinance of the Council of Ministers in regard to the sale of state property and the procedures and costs related to it as unconstitutional.^[3] In opposition to the government's stance, the court ruled in a 3-member panel on 28 May 1986 that the introduced paragraphs were unconstitutional.^[3] The Council of Ministers called for a reevaluation of the case, but on 5 November 1986 the Constitutional Tribunal upheld its ruling.^[3]

1989–2014: Third Polish Republic

In 1989 the Constitutional Tribunal's powers expanded as it secured the right to universally decide on the binding interpretation of laws.^[2] Many changes came with the enactment of the 1997 Constitution; the number of judges increased from 12 to 15, terms of office were elongated by 1 year for a total of 9 years, and the Tribunal lost its competence to decide the interpretation of legal statutes (in the form of abstract provisions).^[2]

2015–2016: Polish Constitutional Court crisis

Main article: 2015 Polish Constitutional Court crisis

Demonstration organized by the KOD, 18 December 2016

In 2015, the governing Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska, PO) party lost both the presidential election and the parliament (Sejm) majority to the Law and Justice party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS), which won an unprecedented absolute majority of seats.

Before the new president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, assumed office on 6 August 2015, and the new (eighth) Sejm was seated on 12 November 2015, the PO majority attempted to nominate enough judges so that the judicial branch would not quickly fall under the control of PiS.

In 2015, 5 of the 15 seats were due to be replaced. Three terms were due to end during the Sejm's recess (after the 25 October election but before the eighth Sejm was seated on 12 November). Two others were due for early December.

PO attempted to nominate all five seats due to be vacant in the year 2015 in advance. In June 2015, they enacted a provision in which it sought to transfer such power to the Sejm.^[4] Then on 8 October 2015, two weeks before the election, the Sejm elected these 5 judges. The new President Duda refused to let any of them take their oaths of office. After PiS won the elections and a majority of seats, they nominated a different set of five judges who were immediately sworn in.

This ignited a fierce partisan struggle, as the remaining judges in the Tribunal, most of which had been nominated by PO majorities, ruled out 3 of the 5 PiS nominees, validating instead 3 PO nominees,^[4] with the 3 PiS judges sworn in not allowed to hear cases.

As a result, a law was immediately passed by the PiS majority to force the inclusion of its nominees, sparking protests and foreign statements of either hostility or support. As this was not enough, a total of 6 "remedial bills" devised by PiS were enacted in the 2015-2016 period.^[4] A two-thirds majority was instated, diluting partisan influence. Finally, the term of resisting President Rzepliński ended and on 21 December 2016, President Andrzej Duda appointed junior member Julia Przyłębska as President of the Constitutional Tribunal.

The Grand Courtroom, in which the Court adjudicates in its full composition

Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the Constitutional Tribunal from 2006 to 2016. Marek Mazurkiewicz, Andrzej Mączyński, Janusz Niemcewicz, Jerzy Stępień, Bohdan Zdziennicki i Andrzej Rzepliński (2010)

Since the reform and takeover of the Constitutional Tribunal by the Law and Justice, the independence and sovereignty of the institution has been questioned. It was called a "puppet court" by Polish opposition judges' associations, some foreign judicial organisations and constitutionalist counterparts.^[5][6][7][8] In February 2020, former Constitutional Tribunal judges, including former presidents of the tribunal Andrzej Rzepliński, Marek Safjan [pl], Jerzy Stępień [pl], Bohdan Zdziennicki [pl] and Andrzej Zoll, stated,

We, the undersigned retired judges of the Constitutional Tribunal, regret to state that the actions of the legislature and the executive since 2015, and the Constitutional Tribunal leadership since 2017, have led to a dramatic decline in the significance and the prestige of this constitutional body, as well as to the inability to perform its constitutional tasks and duties. Unfortunately, the widespread belief that the Constitutional Tribunal has virtually been abolished is correct.

— former Constitutional Tribunal judges, Ruleoflaw.pl^[9]

PiS having been reelected to the Sejm in 2019, and the PiS-affiliated Andrzej Duda being reelected as president in 2020, they were able to fill the Court's 15 seats completely by 2021.

On 4 March 2024, following a non-PiS government being elected in October 2023 and formally sworn in on 13 December 2023, a package of measures was announced with the aim of reforming the Tribunal. The measures included a prospective Sejm resolution calling on illegitimately appointed judges to resign voluntarily and branding Julia Przyłębska as not being authorised to be the Tribunal's chief justice (Przyłębska having been sworn in by Duda in December 2016 without the required resolution being issued by the general assembly of Tribunal judges, and being believed by a number of legal experts to have sat completely illegitimately since December 2022^[a]), prospective legislation to alter selection procedures (requiring candidates to take part in an open public hearing and to receive the approval of three fifths of MPs) and eligibility (anyone who has been an active politician within the last four years, including even being a member of a political party, would not be eligible to sit on the Tribunal; any politician who did get selected would not be able to rule on cases relating to legislation that they had been involved with within the last ten years), and prospective constitutional changes to allow for the implementation of the measures.^[10]

Landmark decisions

Case K 1/20

See also: 2020–2021 women's strike protests in Poland

The Tribunal received a referral by 119 MPs on whether or not abortions of pregnancies unrelated to rape or not threatening the mother's life, which they call "eugenic", are constitutional. The signatories argued that the provision violates Constitutional protections of human dignity (Article 30), the right to life (Article 39) or the prohibition against discrimination (Article 32).

On 22 October 2020, an 11–2 ruling^[11] declared that abortion in Poland due to foetal abnormality was violating the Constitutional protection of human dignity. This effectively made abortions on that basis unobtainable for women in Poland. The provision had been used for 1074 of the 1110 legal abortions in 2019. The ruling triggered the October 2020 Polish protests, which forced the government to delay the ruling's publication in the Dziennik Ustaw until 27 January 2021.^[12]

Case K 3/21

In July 2021, Prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki asked the Tribunal for a constitutional review of three provisions of Treaty on European Union. Following a series of hearings of prominent officeholders, the Tribunal ruled on 7 October 2021^[13] in a 12–2 decision that:

1. Article 1 of the Treaty on European Union (establishing an "ever closer union"), insofar as it is interpreted by the European Court of Justice in a "new step" (nowy etap) which
   • enlarges the EU institutions' competence beyond the limits that Poland accepted via its treaties,
   • opposes the primacy of the Constitution of Poland in both validity and application,
   • opposes the sovereignty of the Polish state,

   is unconstitutional;

2. Article 19 of the Treaty on European Union (that establishes the ECJ), insofar as it gives ordinary courts the right to disregard the Constitution, and to adjudicate on the basis of provisions repealed by the Sejm or deemed unconstitutional by the TK, is unconstitutional;
3. Article 19 and Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (values) are unconstitutional insofar as they empower ordinary courts to question the constitutionality of judicial appointments by the President.

Consequently, all branches of power in Poland argue that Poland's membership in the European Union does not entail that institutions external to the state have the supreme legal authority.

This was widely interpreted as a challenge of the primacy of European Union law, which emerged in Costa v. ENEL (1964), with some talking of a judicial "Polexit".^[14] European primacy, however, had never been fully enshrined by previous Polish rulings, only insofar as it doesn't infringe on Poland's sovereignty (see K 18/04).

This landmark decision marks the culmination of the escalade over judicial nominations and reforms between Brussels and Warsaw that began in late 2015, when Law and Justice came to power, starting with the 2015 Polish Constitutional Court crisis.^[14] Many politicians in Brussels called upon the European Commission to freeze payments to Poland. The Commission President said she was deeply concerned, and ordered to act swiftly.^[14] The recently-implemented Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation could be used.

Presidents and vice presidents

Presidents

No.	Start and end date	Full name	[b]	Sejm	Term as a Justice	Term length
Presidents
1.	1 December 1985 – 1 December 1989	prof. Alfons Klafkowski		IX (PRL)	1 December 1985 – 1 December 1989	4 years, 0 days
2.	1 December 1989 – 19 November 1993[16]	prof. Mieczysław Tyczka		X (PRL)	1 December 1989 – 17 June 1994	4 years, 198 days (resigned)
3.	19 November 1993[17] – 1 December 1997	prof. Andrzej Zoll		X (PRL)	1 December 1989 – 1 December 1997	8 years, 0 days
–	1 December 1997 – 6 January 1998	vacant
4.	6 January 1998[18] – 5 November 2006	prof. Marek Safjan		III	5 November 1997 – 5 November 2006	9 years, 0 days
5.	6 November 2006[19] – 25 June 2008	Jerzy Stępień		III	25 June 1999 – 25 June 2008	9 years, 0 days
6.	26 June 2008[20] – 2 December 2010	dr Bohdan Zdziennicki		IV	2 December 2001 – 2 December 2010	9 years, 0 days
7.	3 December 2010 – 19 December 2016	prof. Andrzej Rzepliński		VI	19 December 2007 – 19 December 2016	9 years, 0 days
–	20 December 2016	Julia Przyłębska[c]		VIII	9 December 2015	9 years, 17 days
8.	21 December 2016 - 29 November 2024 [a]

Vice Presidents

No.	Start and end date	Full name	[b]	Sejm	Term as a Justice	Term length
Vice Presidents
1.	1 December 1985 – 1 December 1993	prof. Leonard Łukaszuk		IX (PRL)	1 December 1985 – 1 December 1993	8 years, 0 days
2.	1 December 1993 – 1 December 2001	prof. Janusz Trzciński		II	1 December 1993 – 1 December 2001	8 years, 0 days
3.	2 December 2001 – 1 December 2006	prof. Andrzej Mączyński		III	1 December 1997 – 1 December 2006	9 years, 0 days
4.	2 December 2006 – 2 March 2010	Janusz Niemcewicz[21]		III	2 March 2001 – 2 March 2010	9 years, 0 days
5.	3 March 2010 – 2 December 2010	dr hab. Marek Mazurkiewicz		IV	2 December 2001 – 2 December 2010	9 years, 0 days
6.	3 December 2010 – 26 June 2017	prof. Stanisław Biernat		VI	26 June 2008 – 26 June 2017	9 years, 0 days
–	27 June – 4 July 2017	vacated
7.	5 July 2017 – 5 July 2023	dr hab. Mariusz Muszyński[c]		VIII	2 December 2015	9 years, 24 days
–	6 July 2023	vacated
Nominated by PiS or its coalition partners
Nominated by PO or its coalition partners
Nominated by Democratic Left Alliance, Solidarity, or its coalition partners

Justices

Current

No.	Full name	[b]	Sejm	Votes	Start date	Term length	Comment
62.	dr hab. Andrzej Jakubecki		VIII	272	-	-
	Vacat
	Vacat
65.	dr hab. Zbigniew Jędrzejewski			227	28 April 2016[22]	8 years, 242 days
66.	dr hab. Michał Warciński[23]			231	20 December 2016	8 years, 6 days
68.	dr Andrzej Zielonacki[24]			227	28 June 2017[25]	7 years, 181 days
69.	dr hab. Krzysztof Ślebzak			268	-	-
70.	dr hab. Roman Hauser			274	-	-
71.	dr Wojciech Sych[26]			228	8 April 2019[27]	5 years, 262 days
72.	dr hab. Krystyna Pawłowicz[28]		IX	230	5 December 2019[29]	5 years, 21 days
73.	Stanisław Piotrowicz[30]			230	5 December 2019[29]	5 years, 21 days
74.	prof. Jakub Stelina[31]			233	5 December 2019[29]	5 years, 21 days
75.	dr hab. Rafał Wojciechowski[32]			239	7 January 2020[33]	4 years, 354 days
76.	Bartłomiej Sochański[34]			234	9 April 2020[35]	4 years, 261 days
77.	Bogdan Święczkowski[36]			233	16 February 2022[37]	2 years, 314 days
Nominated by PiS or its coalition partners
Nominated by PO or its coalition partners

2015 Polish Constitutional Court crisis

In the summer and autumn 2015, a change of power occurred with Civic Platform (PO) losing both the Sejm and the Presidency to Law and Justice (PiS). These two branches appoint and swear new judges, respectively.

In 2015, the term of five judges was set to expire, three of which between Sejm election day and the new legislature's session, and two the month after. PO tried to appoint them in advance (they were: Roman Hauser, Krzysztof Ślebzak, Andrzej Jakubecki, Bronisław Sitek and Andrzej Sokala) but their oath was denied by the new PiS President, Andrzej Duda. As a result, they never sat. The new PiS majority nominated three other judges on 2 December 2015 (Henryk Cioch, Lech Morawski, Mariusz Muszyński) and two others the next week (Piotr Pszczółkowski, Julia Przyłębska), who were immediately sworn in. Cioch and Morawski later died while in office, and were replaced by Justyn Piskorski and Jarosław Wyrembak.

Of the appointments made before the election, the Constitutional Tribunal itself invalidated the last two and accepted the first three. As a consequence, of the appointments made after the election, the Tribunal accepted the last two (Piotr Pszczółkowski and Julia Przyłębska) and invalidated the first three (Henryk Cioch, Lech Morawski and Mariusz Muszyński). However, the ruling was disputed by the new government, who then went on to change the statutes regulating the Court, in order to have its nominees sit. See 2015 Polish Constitutional Court crisis.

Multiple cases were sent to the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice, challenging the Tribunal's legal status. In Xero Flor v Poland, the ECHR ruled on 7 May 2021 that a Polish company did not have the right to a fair trial because Muszyński's election was unlawful.^[38] The Constitutional Tribunal is expected to judge on 3 August 2021 whether it will comply to the ruling or not; this is interpreted as a decision on whether the European or Polish courts are sovereign.^[39] In a 14 July 2021 ruling, the Tribunal rejected the constitutionality of any attempt by the ECHR to suspend the Polish tribunals, as such competence has never been transferred by any treaty.^[40]

Length of tenure

This graphical timeline depicts the length of each current justice's tenure on the Court:

Former

Marek Safjan, first President elected after the fall of communism in Poland

No.	Full name	[b]	Sejm	Term as a Justice	Term length
1.	prof. Henryk de Fiumel		IX (PRL)	1 December 1985 – 17 June 1986	198 days (died in office)
2.	prof. Kazimierz Buchała			1 December 1985 – 1 December 1989	4 years, 0 days
3.	prof. Natalia Gajl			1 December 1985 – 1 December 1989	4 years, 0 days
4.	dr Adam Józefowicz			1 December 1985 – 1 December 1989	4 years, 0 days
5.	dr Andrzej Kabat			1 December 1985 – 1 December 1989	4 years, 0 days
6.	prof. Alfons Klafkowski			1 December 1985 – 1 December 1989	4 years, 0 days
7.	prof. Stanisław Pawela			1 December 1985 – 1 December 1989	4 years, 0 days
8.	dr Czesław Bakalarski			1 December 1985 – 1 December 1993	8 years, 0 days
9.	prof. Kazimierz Działocha			1 December 1985 – 1 December 1993	8 years, 0 days
10.	prof. Henryk Groszyk			1 December 1985 – 1 December 1993	8 years, 0 days
11.	prof. Leonard Łukaszuk			1 December 1985 – 1 December 1993	8 years, 0 days
12.	Remigiusz Orzechowski			1 December 1985 – 13 August 1993	7 years, 255 days (died in office)
13.	Maria Łabor-Soroka[41]	-		25 November 1986 – 30 November 1993	7 years, 5 days
14.	Antoni Filcek		X (PRL)	1 December 1989 – 31 October 1992	2 years, 335 days (resigned)
15.	prof. Mieczysław Tyczka			1 December 1989 – 17 June 1994	4 years, 198 days (resigned)
16.	prof. Janina Zakrzewska			1 December 1989 – 27 May 1995	5 years, 177 days (died in office)
17.	prof. Tomasz Dybowski			1 December 1989 – 1 December 1997	8 years, 0 days
18.	prof. Wojciech Łączkowski			1 December 1989 – 1 December 1997	8 years, 0 days
19.	prof. Andrzej Zoll			1 December 1989 – 1 December 1997	8 years, 0 days
20.	Ferdynand Rymarz	-	I	19 February 1993 – 19 February 2001[42]	8 years, 0 days
21.	dr hab. Błażej Wierzbowski		II	1 December 1993 – 30 November 1998[43]	4 years, 364 days (resigned)
22.	prof. Wojciech Sokolewicz			1 December 1993 – 31 May 1999[43]	5 years, 181 days (resigned)
23.	prof. Zdzisław Czeszejko-Sochacki			1 December 1993 – 1 December 2001[43]	8 years, 0 days
24.	prof. Lech Garlicki			1 December 1993 – 1 December 2001[43]	8 years, 0 days
25.	Stefan Jan Jaworski			1 December 1993 – 1 December 2001[43]	8 years, 0 days
26.	prof. Janusz Trzciński			1 December 1993 – 1 December 2001[43]	8 years, 0 days
27.	prof. Krzysztof Kolasiński	-		27 May 1994 – 27 May 2002[44]	8 years, 0 days
28.	Jadwiga Skórzewska-Łosiak			21 July 1995 – 21 July 2003[45]	8 years, 0 days
29.	prof. Teresa Dębowska-Romanowska		III	5 November 1997 – 5 November 2006[46]	9 years, 0 days
30.	prof. Marek Safjan			5 November 1997 – 5 November 2006[46]	9 years, 0 days
31.	prof. Marian Zdyb			5 November 1997 – 5 November 2006[46]	9 years, 0 days
32.	Wiesław Johann			1 December 1997 – 1 December 2006[47]	9 years, 0 days
33.	prof. Biruta Lewaszkiewicz-Petrykowska			1 December 1997 – 1 December 2006[47]	9 years, 0 days
34.	prof. Andrzej Mączyński			1 December 1997 – 1 December 2006[47]	9 years, 0 days
35.	dr hab. Jerzy Ciemniewski			18 December 1998 – 18 December 2007[48]	9 years, 0 days
36.	Jerzy Stępień			25 June 1999 – 25 June 2008[49]	9 years, 0 days
37.	Janusz Niemcewicz			2 March 2001 – 2 March 2010[50]	9 years, 0 days
38.	prof. Marian Grzybowski		IV	2 December 2001 – 2 December 2010[51]	9 years, 0 days
39.	dr hab. Marek Mazurkiewicz			2 December 2001 – 2 December 2010[51]	9 years, 0 days
40.	dr hab. Mirosław Wyrzykowski			2 December 2001 – 2 December 2010[51]	9 years, 0 days
41.	dr Bohdan Zdziennicki			2 December 2001 – 2 December 2010[51]	9 years, 0 days
42.	prof. Ewa Łętowska			28 May 2002 – 28 May 2011[52]	9 years, 0 days
43.	prof. Adam Jamróz			22 July 2003 – 22 July 2012[53]	9 years, 0 days
44.	dr hab. Maria Gintowt-Jankowicz		V	6 November 2006 – 6 November 2015[54]	9 years, 0 days
45.	Wojciech Hermeliński			6 November 2006 – 6 November 2015[54]	9 years, 0 days
46.	Marek Kotlinowski			6 November 2006 – 6 November 2015[54]	9 years, 0 days
47.	dr hab. Zbigniew Cieślak			2 December 2006 – 2 December 2015[55]	9 years, 0 days
48.	dr hab. Teresa Liszcz[56]			8 December 2006 – 8 December 2015[57]	9 years, 0 days
49.	Lidia Bagińska[58]			8 December 2006 – 12 March 2007[59]	94 days (resigned)
50.	prof. Mirosław Granat[60]			27 April 2007 – 27 April 2016[61]	9 years, 0 days
51.	prof. Andrzej Rzepliński[62]		VI	19 December 2007 – 19 December 2016[63]	9 years, 0 days
52.	prof. Stanisław Biernat			26 June 2008 – 26 June 2017[64]	9 years, 0 days
53.	prof. Sławomira Wronkowska-Jaśkiewicz[65]			6 May 2010 – 6 May 2019[66]	9 years, 0 days
54.	Stanisław Rymar[67]			3 December 2010 – 3 December 2019[68]	9 years, 0 days
55.	prof. Piotr Tuleja[67]			3 December 2010 – 3 December 2019[68]	9 years, 0 days
56.	prof. Marek Zubik[67]			3 December 2010 – 3 December 2019[68]	9 years, 0 days
57.	prof. Małgorzata Pyziak-Szafnicka[69]			5 January 2011 – 5 January 2020[70]	9 years, 0 days
58.	prof. Andrzej Wróbel			29 May 2011 – 24 January 2017[71]	5 years, 240 days (resigned)
59.	prof. Leon Kieres			23 July 2012 – 23 July 2021[72]	9 years, 0 days
	prof. Roman Hauser		VII	7 November 2015[73] (never seated)	9 years, 49 days (election overruled)
	prof. Krzysztof Ślebzak			7 November 2015[74] (never seated)	9 years, 49 days (election overruled)
	prof. Andrzej Jakubecki			7 November 2015[75] (never seated)	9 years, 49 days (election overruled)
	prof. Bronisław Sitek			(3 December 2015)[76] (never seated)	0 days (election ruled unconstitutional)
	prof. Andrzej Sokala			(9 December 2015)[77] (never seated)	0 days (election ruled unconstitutional)
60.	prof. Henryk Cioch[78]		VIII	2 December 2015[79] – 20 December 2017	2 years, 18 days (died in office)
61.	prof. Lech Morawski[78]			2 December 2015[79] – 12 July 2017	1 year, 222 days (died in office)
67.	dr hab. Grzegorz Jędrejek[80]			27 February 2017 – 19 January 2020[81]	2 years, 326 days (died in office)
No.	Full name	[d]	Sejm	Term as a Justice	Term length

See also

• Judiciary
• Rule of law
• Rule According to Higher Law
• Supreme Court of Poland
• 2015–present Polish constitutional crisis

Notes

1. According to the effective law (the Article 10 §2 of the Act of 30 November 2016 on organisation and mode of proceedings before the Constitutional Tribunal which came in force on 3 January 2017^[e] after Przyłębska's appointment as the President) the term of the President of the Constitutional Tribunal lasts 6 years. Therefore Przyłębska's term should have ended on 21 December 2022. Przyłębska and her PiS backers, however, believed her term as President was not actually due to expire until December 2024, since this is when her term as a judge in general expires; as of 6 March 2024, she continued to sit as President of the Tribunal.^[f][g][h]
2. The colors only represent the majorities that elected each judge, as the Polish Constitution of 1997 mandates that judges shall be independent and shall not belong to any political party (Article 195).^[15]
3. The 8th Sejm elected prof. Henryk Cioch, Lech Morawski and dr. hab. Mariusz Muszyński, even though prof. Roman Hauser, Krzysztof Ślebzak and Andrzej Jakubecki had been elected by the 7th Sejm in advance. The 3 seats' terms were to end after the 2015 election, but during the recess, leaving room for conflicting interpretation of the constitution. Since the Henryk Cioch and Lech Morawski died during their terms, dr hab. Jarosław Wyrembak and Justyn Piskorski who were elected on their place are also considered disputed.
4. The colors only represent the majorities that elected each judge, as the Polish Constitution of 1997 mandates that judges shall be independent and shall not belong to any political party (Article 195).^[15]
5. Ustawa z dnia 30 listopada 2016 r. o organizacji i trybie postępowania przed Trybunałem Konstytucyjnym [Act of 30 November 2016 on organisation and mode of proceedings before the Constitutional Tribunal], Dz. U., 2016, No. 2072
6. "Trybunał Konstytucyjny. Julia Przyłębska odwołała rozprawę. Było za mało sędziów - TVN24". tvn24.pl (in Polish). TVN 24. 9 May 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
7. "Ast: Julia Przyłębska jest prezesem Trybunału Konstytucyjnego - RMF 24". rmf24.pl (in Polish). RMF FM. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
8. Tilles, Daniel (5 January 2023). "Polish constitutional court judges rebel against chief justice, demanding she step down". Notes from Poland. Retrieved 6 March 2024.

References

1. Dz.U. z 1982 r. nr 11, poz. 83^{[permanent dead link‍]}.
2. Skrzydło, Wiesław; Grabowska, Sabina; Grabowski (red.), Radosław (2009). Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Komentarz encyklopedyczny. Warsaw: Wolters Kluwer Polska. ISBN 978-83-7601-686-3.
3. Alberski, Robert (2010). Trybunał Konstytucyjny w polskich systemach politycznych. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego. ISBN 978-83-229-3146-2.
4. Kryszkiewicz, Małgorzata; Osiecki, Grzegorz (2016). "Twarda linia Prawa i Sprawiedliwości". Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
5. "Prezes polskiego TK o słowach prezesa niemieckiego TK: jestem zażenowana". Onet.pl. 13 May 2020. Archived from the original on 13 May 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
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• Shotter, James; Huber, Evon (13 July 2017). "Poland's ruling party drafts bill to force judges to step down". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2017.

External links

• Media related to Constitutional Tribunal of Poland at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website