In response to the opposition’s recent announcement of resolutions aimed at removing judges allegedly elected illegally, the president of the Constitutional Tribunal maintains that all judges were lawfully elected. Julia Przylebska, the head of the Constitutional Tribunal, addressed the matter in a Polish Radio 3 interview on Thursday morning.
The controversy dates back to 2015 when, just two weeks before the general election, the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, elected five new judges to replace outgoing ones. However, then-President Andrzej Duda, a supporter of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, refused to administer the oaths of office to any of the appointed judges. Shortly after PiS secured victory in the elections, they nominated their own set of five judges, who were promptly sworn in by President Duda.
Borys Budka, co-chair of the main opposition party Civic Platform (PO), announced on Thursday morning that resolutions to invalidate the election of Constitutional Tribunal judges were ready, prompting a swift response from Julia Przylebska.
During the radio interview, Przylebska dismissed the opposition’s stance as a “complete misunderstanding.” She emphasized the established legal process for appointing judges to the Constitutional Tribunal, stating, “To become a judge of the Constitutional Tribunal, you must first be elected by parliament, then take an oath before the president, then go to the Tribunal and declare that you want to take up the duties of a judge. All judges were properly elected, took oaths, and came to the Constitutional Tribunal.”