The legal basis for removing the president and vice president of the Constitutional Tribunal from their duties is questionable, and recent events are deepening the crisis, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFPC) said. In a statement sent to PAP on Saturday evening, the HFPC called for an agreement across political divides and a constitutional reset.
The foundation stressed that the Constitutional Tribunal (TK) has been in a deep institutional crisis since the end of 2015. In its view, the court is currently unable to carry out its tasks independently and impartially, which harms the protection of human rights and the rule of law.
The HFPC board questioned the basis for Friday’s order placing TK President Bogdan Święczkowski and Vice President Bartłomiej Sochański on a break from their official duties.
“We do not see a clear legal basis for such a decision to be issued by the judge with the longest tenure,” states the position paper, signed by the foundation’s president, Maciej Nowicki.
As explained, such a judge stands in for the TK president when the post is vacant or when the president cannot authorize another judge to act in his place. According to the HFPC, neither situation applies. Invoking a state of constitutional necessity, meanwhile, amounts in practice to an admission that there is no unquestionable legal basis, the foundation said.
The foundation warned of a dangerous precedent: a future Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, could elect to the TK a person with long judicial experience who would then suspend the Tribunal’s leadership and take control of it.
It added that the events cannot be assessed in isolation from the causes of the crisis. It recalled its position that lawfully elected judges should begin their work and that the president has no right to block or invalidate the Sejm’s choice.
“We have also drawn attention to irregularities in the functioning of the Constitutional Tribunal, including manipulation in the assignment of adjudicating panels. In this latter matter, criminal proceedings are currently under way, initiated after a notification filed by the Foundation,” the statement said.
The foundation stressed that “the scuffles between judges and the President of Poland in front of the Tribunal building undermine the dignity of state institutions and are an eloquent symbol of the state’s crisis.”
It said the only solution is the constitutional reset proposed by the Stefan Batory Foundation: changing the rules for choosing judges to protect the TK from being taken over by a single political camp, then ending all current terms and filling the seats under the new rules.
The dispute escalated on Friday after the announcement of the break in the duties of the TK’s leadership. Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, a judge chosen by the current Sejm, took over management of the court’s work. Demonstrations were held in front of the Tribunal’s headquarters, and police appeared. President Karol Nawrocki interrupted his flight to Senegal, arrived at the TK at night and called consultations with parliamentary groups. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that “restoring the rule of law is our duty.” (PAP)
