Diffuse Constitutional Review in the Light of Poland’s Constitutional Court Crisis

Abstract

This gloss comments on the judgment of a common court disapplying a duly enacted statute as incompatible with the Constitution. The court also decided to disapply the Constitutional Court’s judgment on the same subject because of the participation of a person elected to an already occupied seat. The District Court’s intention was to substitute itself for a Constitutional Court stripped of independence and impartiality. The intention was to protect the supremacy of the Constitution, human rights, and the rule of law. The purpose of this gloss is to examine more closely this new practice from the courts and the circumstances surrounding it. The actions taken by the courts lead to the propagation of the diffuse constitutional review of ordinary statutes as a sort of protective mechanism within a constitutional democracy.