The Sejm passed a resolution addressing the fallout from the 2015-2023 constitutional crisis in the context of the Constitutional Court’s work. The vote tally stood at 240 in favor, 197 against, with no abstentions.
A few minutes earlier, the Sejm had accepted a motion from the governing coalition to reject the draft resolution on its second reading.
In its statement, the Sejm of the Republic of Poland argued that the current inability of the functioning body to carry out the Constitutional Court’s duties calls for its reestablishment, grounded in constitutional principles and acknowledging the viewpoints of all political forces that respect the constitutional order. It proposed that judges of the renewed Constitutional Tribunal be elected with participation from opposition groups, and that the process of determining the Court’s composition be staged over time to demonstrate the will to form this body beyond the current term of the Sejm and the Senate.
– this constitutes a resolution adopted by the Sejm.
The resolution asserted that considering public authority decisions issued by the Constitutional Court when those decisions violate the law undermines the principle of legality within those authorities.
The Sejm urged the judges of the Constitutional Court to step down as part of the ongoing democratic change process.
– this emphasis appeared again in the resolution.
The draft resolution was introduced on Monday by the Minister of Justice and representatives from all parties within the ruling coalition. At that moment, parallel drafts were presented on the Constitutional Court, proposals introducing related laws on the Court, and amendments to the Constitution concerning the Court.
The Sejm began debate and the first reading of the draft on Wednesday, and later that day a motion to proceed directly to the second reading without sending the draft to a Sejm committee was adopted.
The parliamentary majority bill
The draft resolution calling for the elimination of the consequences of the 2015-2023 constitutional crisis in relation to the Constitutional Court was introduced by a group of Sejm majority deputies. The document asserted that Mariusz Muszyński, Justyn Piskorski, and Jarosław Wyrembak are not judges of the Constitutional Court and that the presidency of the Court had been assumed by an unauthorized individual. The draft resolution also included a call for the judges of the Constitutional Tribunal to resign and join the democratic change process.
The parties within the ruling coalition, including KO, PSL-TD, Polski 2050-TD, and the Links, supported the draft resolution. A motion to reject the bill at first reading was submitted by PiS and backed by the Confederation. In a subsequent vote, the motion was rejected, and the Sejm proceeded to the second reading of the bill.
PiS opposition
PiS members voted against the draft resolution. Their representative, Krzysztof Szczucki, tabled a motion to reject it at the first reading, arguing that the draft resolution amounted to an attack on the Constitution and on the Polish state system. Szczucki stressed that the composition of the Constitutional Court cannot be altered by a resolution, and that the Court’s judicial achievements cannot be erased by such a measure.
The argument was also framed around the idea that the Constitution should be more than mere rhetoric or a legal act to be lamented; it must be upheld in practice.
[Citation: wPolityce].