The Constitutional Tribunal has postponed the date of the hearing on the Prime Minister’s request for the full composition of the Tribunal to July 19. The composition of the judges appointed to hear the case has also changed. Krystyna Pawlowicz replaces Stanislaw Piotrowicz.
Changing the chairpersons of the hearing
The Constitutional Tribunal was scheduled to hear the head of government’s request on July 13. However, according to the report of the Tribunal, the hearing in this case has been postponed to July 19. It would be presided over by Judge Stanisław Piotrowicz. According to the information on the website of the Constitutional Tribunal, this judge will not be a member of the Tribunal in this case. Judge Krystyna Pawłowicz will rule instead and Judge Bartłomiej Sochański will be the new presiding judge. Judge Jarosław Wyrembak will be the rapporteur, while Justices Justyn Piskorski and Piotr Pszczółkowski will also be members.
The Prime Minister’s Doubts
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 consists of 15 judges and that its decisions are made by majority vote and “does not directly specify the quorum of the full composition”.
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.
The dispute over the tenure of Julia Przyłębska
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 full hearing is required for a hearing on the January amendment to the law on the Supreme Court requested by 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.
Other Court hearings
The date of the Constitutional Tribunal’s hearing on the Supreme Court amendment was set for June 27, but it was removed from the 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 recognition of the case as particularly complex is made by the panel of judges appointed to hear the case, or where the particular complexity is related to financial expenditure not provided for by the Budget Act.
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rm/PAP
Source: wPolityce