The dispute over the Constitutional Tribunal continues. Judges allowed into the building, but without the right to adjudicate
On Thursday, April 9 this year. The oath ceremony of new judges of the Constitutional Tribunal took place in the Column Hall of the Sejm.
The media were not allowed to attend the ceremony. Journalists, photojournalists and cameramen waited for the judges and invited guests in the hall. However, the ceremony was broadcast and can be viewed on the Sejm website.
The ceremony was attended by the Speaker of the Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty, the Speaker of the Senate Małgorzata Kidawa Błońska, as well as deputy speakers Dorota Niedziela, Monika Wielichowska, Szymon Hołownia and Piotr Zgorzelski.
The invited guests also included: former presidents of the Constitutional Tribunal, Marek Safjan, Jerzy Stępień, Bohdan Zdziennicki and Andrzej Zoll, and the president of the Court of Appeal in Warsaw, judge Dorota Markiewicz. However, this is not enough for new judges to be admitted to cases. Here are the most important facts in the TK case.
Six judges took oath “before the president”
Six judges of the Constitutional Tribunal took the oath in the Sejm. Therefore, Dariusz Szostek and Magdalena Bentkowska, who took the oath for the first time on April 1 this year, took the oath again. in the Presidential Palace. This solution is praised by ministers in Donald Tusk's government: Zbigniew Żurek and Maciej Berek, as well as part of the legal community.
Pursuant to the Act on the status of judges of the Constitutional Tribunal, a person elected to the position of judge takes an oath before the president. Says:
“I solemnly swear, while performing the duties entrusted to me as a judge of the Constitutional Tribunal, to serve the Nation faithfully, to guard the Constitution, and to fulfill the duties entrusted to me impartially and with the utmost care.” At the end he can add “So help me God.”
From the left: Maciej Taborowski, Dariusz Szostek, Krystian Markiewicz, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, Marcin Dziurda and Magdalena Bentkowska
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Anna Strzyżak/Chancellery of the Sejm / Chancellery of the Sejm
The president was sworn in by only two judges. He has not yet made a decision regarding: Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, Marcin Dziurda, Krystian Markiewicz and Maciej Taborowski.
Due to the lack of action on Nawrocki's part, the four judges first sent a letter asking for the oath to be taken from them as well. When they did not receive an answer, they invited the head of state to an oath ceremony in the Sejm.
However, President Karol Nawrocki did not appear at the Sejm ceremony. Despite this, the judges used the phrase “towards the president” in their oath and addressed him.
At the conference after the oath, Marshal Czarzasty recalled that on March 18 he asked the president to accept the oath from the newly elected judges, and on March 25 he asked for a meeting to establish a common position on this matter.
— The President did not respond to these requests, so on April 9, in response to the initiative of selected Constitutional Tribunal judges, the Constitutional Tribunal judges were sworn in before the President. I consider this procedure to be over, he emphasized. He added that “the refusal to take the oath from some selected judges has no legal basis and constitutes usurpation of competences by the president.
Prof. also spoke in Business Insider about the fact that the president cannot refuse to take the oath. Marcin Wiącek, ombudsman.
Read also: “The president shot himself in the foot.” Harsh comments after Karol Nawrocki's decision
The presidential palace does not recognize the Sejm oath. Zbigniew Bogucki, head of the Chancellery of the President, announced on Thursday evening that In the coming days, there will be a request to the Constitutional Tribunal to resolve the competence dispute between the President and the Sejm regarding what has happened in recent days around the oath of office of Constitutional Tribunal judges.
Even before the ceremony in the Sejm, Bogucki issued a statement. He emphasized that this was a position presented on behalf of the president as a result of the Constitutional Tribunal judges announcing actions that had no legal basis and were in fact intended to lead to disregard of the obligation to take the oath before the president.
What is most important, Bogucki wrote at the end of the statement. He pointed out that “ostentatious and conscious actions contrary to the Act should be treated as a refusal to take the oath (…). The Act does not provide for any alternative way of effectively taking the oath, and attempting to replace the statutory procedure with another form must be assessed as a refusal to comply with the applicable law. Such a refusal has the effect expressly provided for in Art. 4 section 2 of the said Act, according to which refusing to take the oath is tantamount to resigning from the position of judge of the Constitutional Tribunal“, we read in the statement.
Bogucki also added that the alternative oath would have to be assessed by the president as a conscious and open violation of the law, which must be taken into account when further assessing the possibility of the president taking the oath from them.
The Head of the Chancellery of the President made it clear that the president, although he delayed, did not refuse to take the oath, and that choosing an alternative path in this situation means refusing to take the oath and resigning from the position.
According to Waldemar Żurek, Minister of Justice, such justification is “embarrassing”.
– This is not the legal level, it is the level of some crook trying to justify illegal decisions – said Żurek.
Judges allowed into the Constitutional Tribunal building
From the Sejm, the judges went to the Chancellery of the President (the building is located right next to the Sejm), where they took written oaths before the president.
— In this way, we have completed all the formalities necessary to take up office. We are correctly and effectively elected judges of the Constitutional Tribunal – emphasized Krystian Markiewicz after leaving the Chancellery of the President. He added that it was the duty of all six of them to “immediately begin performing their judicial duties.”
After leaving the Chancellery of the President, the judges were taken by bus to the seat of the Constitutional Tribunal. And everyone entered the building.
Some politicians and commentators were afraid that Bogdan Święczkowski, the president of the Constitutional Tribunal, would allow only two judges into the building. The lack of arguments in the Constitutional Tribunal does not mean, however, that the president of the Constitutional Tribunal has accepted Thursday's oath.
— I assess today's event that took place in the Sejm negatively. I believe that those people who were elected as judges they made the worst possible decision – explained Bogdan Święczkowski, president of the Constitutional Tribunal, at a meeting with the media.
He added that two people who took the oath before President Karol Nawrocki on April 1 have received their offices and will be able to start working. The remaining four he did not assign offices or specific cases.
— With the remaining four people elected to the office of judge, I met with each of them individually. I told everyone that Unfortunately, I cannot assume that they have established an employment relationship as a judge of the Constitutional Tribunalbecause I was not informed by the president that they took the oath in front of him. Unless the president informs me that he will consider such a meeting in the Sejm as taking an oath towards him – emphasized the president of the Constitutional Tribunal.
He organizes the work of the Constitutional Tribunal and can prevent the four judges from adjudicating.
PiS organizes protests and submits reports to the prosecutor's office
On Thursday, supporters of PiS and the opposition protested in front of the Sejm building, supporting the president's decision not to take the oath.
“They want this fighting, or rather growling, democracy,” argued Adam Borowski, an independence opposition activist from the times of the Polish People's Republic. He called the oath of office of Constitutional Tribunal judges a “cabaret” and a “threat to our freedom.” National activist Robert Bąkiewicz actively participated in the picket. The oath taking in the Sejm was called a “social meeting”.
PiS also announced that it would submit a report to the prosecutor's office against the participants of this meeting in the Sejm.
MP Mariusz Gosek pointed out the violation of Art. 231 of the Penal Code, i.e. abuse of powers and even coup d'état under Art. 127 of the Penal Code.
An even larger crowd gathered in front of the Constitutional Tribunal building. However, both opponents and supporters of today's oath in the Sejm have already appeared.
