The approaching end of the term of the National Council of the Judiciary has triggered the process of selecting new members of the body. As Lawyers for Poland warn, Minister of Justice Waldemar Żurek is pushing a scenario in which the NCJ would be filled with “individuals affiliated with the Iustitia and Themis associations – open allies of the current political authorities.”
On May 12 this year, the term of the judicial members of the National Council of the Judiciary expires – meaning that a new “group of fifteen” must be elected. The procedure has already been launched, and successive judges are submitting their candidacies. Minister Waldemar Żurek, together with Iustitia, intend to conduct “primaries” and present the “group of fifteen” selected in this way to the Speaker of the Sejm, while MPs would merely approve their decision. This has sparked opposition among lawyers.
Supreme Court judge Maria Szczepaniec, who is also running for the NCJ, spoke out unequivocally against the idea in an interview with Niezalezna.pl.
In light of the justice minister’s plans, the Lawyers for Poland Association has also raised the alarm. The association’s president, Judge Łukasz Piebiak (also a candidate for the NCJ), warns against what he describes as an attempt to steal democratic influence over the judiciary.
“As media reports indicate, the parliamentary majority intends to return to its most disgraceful practices from December 2023, when – through an act of an internal nature, not covered by the constitutional system of sources of law – it took over public media,” Judge Piebiak begins.
He points out that “now, also by way of a resolution and contrary to the Act on the National Council of the Judiciary, there are plans to literally push through into the composition of this body 15 judges selected in so-called primaries organized by court presidents, which lack any legal basis.”
He specifies that “the aim is to staff the National Council of the Judiciary with individuals connected to the Iustitia and Themis associations – open allies of the current political authorities.”
The judge warns that “the brazenness, audacity, and arrogance of the current political authorities will, in effect, reduce the Polish Sejm – elected by millions of votes – to the role of a hostage of a handful of judicial oligarchs.”