Corona Constitutional #27: Justiz-Iron Man in Polen
Seit Wochen streiten die Richterinnen und Richter des polnischen Obersten Gerichtshofs darüber, wer für den vakanten Präsidentenposten kandidieren soll. Am Freitag könnte die Entscheidung endlich...
View ArticleCan an Unlawful Judge be the First President of the Supreme Court?
Yesterday, the President of Poland appointed Małgorzata Manowska as the First President of the Supreme Court. Manowska cannot be considered an independent judge in light of the judgment of the ECJ in...
View ArticleRepression of Freedom of Expression in Poland: Renewing support for Wojciech...
In pre-COVID19 times we drew attention (here and here) to the fact that our colleague, Professor Wojciech Sadurski, faces multiple civil and criminal cases in Poland resulting from his tweets which...
View ArticleTo Shoot Down a Judge
This text describes the story of the persecution of judge Waldemar Żurek, one of the icons of the fight for saving the rule of law in Poland – or what has remained of it. This story will probably seem...
View ArticleStrasbourg Steps in
The European Court of Human Rights is recognised as a pearl in the crown of the Council of Europe system. The Strasbourg Court allows each of the 850 million inhabitants of the 47 Member States to...
View ArticleCourt-Packing, Judicial Independence, and Populism
The past few months have seen some interesting developments involving civil society and what’s euphemistically called “court reform” in the United States. The prestigious American Academy of Arts...
View ArticleCorona Constitutional #44: Was jetzt auf Polen zukommt
Die Präsidentschaftswahl in Polen ist gelaufen, alle haben artig dem Amtsinhaber Andrzej Duda zur zweiten Amtszeit gratuliert, als sei das einfach nur eine demokratische Wahl wie jede andere. Dass sie...
View ArticlePolexit – Quo vadis, Polonia?
„Wann kommen denn die Tage, an denen die Dummheit Dummheit zu nennen, kein Hochverrat sein wird!?“Cyprian Kamil Norwid Polen A. D. 2020: Was auf dem Spiel steht Unkenntnis und Unwille sind in Polen...
View ArticleFencing Off the Difference
In late Summer 2020, the Polish public has become conversant in a field which is not usually a part of everybody’s curriculum: semiotics. What does a rainbow mean? While persons placing rainbow flags...
View ArticleBefore It’s Too Late
Dear President von der Leyen, In your recent State of the Union address, you rightly emphasized that “breaches of the rule of law cannot be tolerated.” We are sorry to say we are seeing ample evidence...
View ArticleLawRules #2: We need to talk about Judicial Nominations
It’s easy to agree that judicial independence is important – but who gets to be a part of the judiciary, who gets promoted to which court and who enters the highest ranks is a decision that has to be...
View ArticleToday Tuleya, Tomorrow the EU
Igor Tuleya is someone you should know. He is your judge, wherever you live in the EU. More specifically, he is a judge at the District Court in Warsaw. Next Monday, on October 5th 2020, he may lose...
View ArticleThe Plaintiff who turned into a Prosecutor
Readers of this blog are familiar with how the Polish government, led by the Law and Justice party (PiS) and the institutions it controls, is trying to silence Professor Wojciech Sadurski in a...
View ArticleConstitutional Borrowings, Not Hegemony
The question about the legal hegemony of Germany was raised by comments from lawyers, but also politicians, in connection with the – undoubtedly – controversial decision of the German Constitutional...
View ArticleThe Ombudsman before the Polish Constitutional Tribunal
On 9th September 2020, the 5-years term of the current Polish Ombudsman (Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich, Commissioner for Human Rights) Adam Bodnar, has ended. The Parliament did not select a new person...
View ArticleA Dubious Judgment by a Dubious Court
On 22 October 2020 Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, dominated by judges appointed under the procedure introduced by the ruling right-wing populist PiS party, has determined that abortion due to foetal...
View ArticleNo more “Business as Usual”
The Polish Constitutional Court (“the Court”), once a proud institution and an effective check on the will of the majority, is now a shell of its former self. It has become a dangerous and unhinged...
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Livid in Warsaw
Three days before election Tuesday in the USA, the last thing you need to plunge you ever deeper into depression is another Verfassungsblog editorial. Church-goers stabbed to death in France. Rapidly...
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Weißglut in Warschau
Drei Tage vor dem Wahldienstag in den USA werden Sie vermutlich kein Verfassungsblog-Editorial mehr benötigen, um so richtig schlecht draufzukommen. Erstochene Kirchgänger in Frankreich. Voll laufende...
View ArticlePopulist but not Popular
For more than a week, the largest mass protests have been taking place in Poland since the political transition in 1989. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of thousands of people are...
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