Yesterday the Sejm rejected most of the Senate’s amendments and completed parliamentary work on the amendment to the Act on the Supreme Court.
– This law closes control over the highest body of the judiciary in Poland – warned opposition senators and judges of the Supreme Court.
The amendment changes the rules for the election of the Presidents of the Supreme Court who direct the work of individual chambers (Presidents of Chambers), following the model of the election of the First President of the Supreme Court. It grants the President of the Republic the power to entrust the performance of the duties of the President of the Chamber to an chosen judge of a given Chamber, and grants the First President of the Supreme Court the power to freely form panels of judges examining legal issues in extended panels in each Chamber and to determine the order of examining the most important cases for citizens and authorities.
The term of office of the President of the Civil Law Chamber, Dariusz Zawistowski, and the president of the Labor Law and Social Security Chamber, Józef Iwulski, will end in August 2021. The President of the Supreme Court is appointed by the President of the Republic from among candidates selected by SC judges. If the candidates are not selected, the quorum will be reduced to just one third of the judges in the next vote. In that case, the neo-judges in those Chambers would be able to vote the candidates themselves. Małgorzata Manowska (First President of the SC) recently transferred another three such people to Civil Law Chamber. If it is not possible to elect the Presidents on time, Andrzej Duda will be able to appoint the commissioners of the Chambers with the consent of the Prime Minister. The regulations do not specify how long the commissioners could perform duties of Presidents of Chambers.