On July 13. a hearing was scheduled in the Constitutional Court at the request of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on the full composition of the Constitutional Court. Such a request was submitted by the head of government at the beginning of June. The case will be heard by a panel of five judges of the Constitutional Court.
The hearing – according to Friday’s list on the Constitutional Tribunal’s website – was scheduled for July 13 at Judge Stanisław Piotrowicz will preside over the hearing, Judge Jarosław Wyrembak will be the rapporteur and the panel will consist of Justices Justyn Piskorski, Piotr Pszczółkowski and Bartłomiej Sochanski.
Prime Minister Morawiecki’s motion concerns the constitutionality of one of the provisions of the law on the organization and procedure of the trial before the Constitutional Court (Article 37; paragraph 2, first sentence). This provision provides that “the examination of a case by a full chamber shall require the participation of at least eleven judges of the Tribunal”. There are 15 judges in the Constitutional Tribunal.
Any regulation that excludes or limits the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court constitutes a violation of the Constitution
– stated the Prime Minister in the application.
It added that the law specifying the operating principles of the Constitutional Tribunal should “introduce only those solutions that do not deprive the Constitutional Tribunal of the ability to efficiently carry out all the functions and tasks assigned to it under the provisions of the Constitution.” to be carried out”. The Constitution, on the other hand, states that the Constitutional Tribunal is composed of 15 judges, and that decisions are made by majority vote and “does not explicitly specify the quorum of the full bench”.
The full court is simply made up of judges who can adjudicate in a particular case – they have a legitimacy, they are not barred from trial, they appeared to participate in procedural activities
— therefore justifies the proposal, which refers to previous case law in support of this argument.
Therefore, as the Prime Minister’s application concluded, “statutory regulations introducing a quorum for the plenary session of the Constitutional Tribunal to act allow the actions of some judges of the Tribunal to prevent the exercise of powers by the Constitutional Tribunal to prevent” and therefore remain contrary to the provisions of the Constitution.
For several months now, a dispute has been going on in the Constitutional Tribunal over the term of office of Julia Przyłębska as President of the Tribunal, which has recently made it difficult for the Tribunal to compose a full chamber of 11 judges.
For example, a plenary session is required for a hearing on the amendment of the Supreme Court law in January at the request of President Andrzej Duda, who referred the head of state to the Tribunal in February under the preventive scrutiny procedure. According to PiS, the change is intended to fulfill the most important “milestone” for the European Commission to release funds for the implementation of the national reconstruction plan.
Date of first hearing
The date of the Constitutional Tribunal’s hearing on the Supreme Court amendment was set for June 27, but was dropped from Friday’s agenda. For the time being, there is no new date for the consideration of the presidential candidacy.
On the other hand, on July 20, the continuation of the hearing in the full chamber of the Constitutional Court on EU law, on the basis of which the Court of Justice of the EU imposed sanctions on Poland in relation to the Turów mine and the disciplinary chamber of the Supreme Court, is scheduled in the Constitutional Tribunal. The Tribunal began hearing this application on 19 October last year. The dates of this case have been postponed many times.
By law, the full composition of the Constitutional Court is required in the following cases: disputes over powers between the constitutional organs of the state, determination of an obstacle to the exercise of office by the President of the Republic of Poland, compliance with the establishment of the objectives or activities of political parties, the conformity of a statute with the Constitution before signing or an international agreement before ratification, including in cases of particular complexity – at the initiative of the President of the Constitutional Tribunal, and also when a request for the case to be recognized as particularly complex is made by the jury panel appointed to hear the case, or where the particular complexity is related to financial expenditure not provided for in the Budget Act.
READ ALSO: Prime Minister Morawiecki: We will submit an application to the Constitutional Tribunal regarding the law on the organization of this Tribunal
mly/PAP
Source: wPolityce