LEGAL DISPUTES OVER THE JUDICIARY: AN ELEMENT OF THE POLISH CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

Abstract

This article is an attempt to outline and explain the essence of disputes on the legal solutions adopted in the field of the functioning of the judiciary in Poland after 2015, which have been subject to critical assessment by international bodies and representatives of Polish jurisprudence. The constitutional crisis in Poland concerns the functioning of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, common and administrative courts, and the National Council of the Judiciary. The last one is not an organ of the judiciary but its constitutional powers concern the judiciary, and the changes which have been made in the method of appointing its members constitute one of the essential elements of the constitutional crisis in Poland. Therefore, to show the complexity of the problem more fully, the article will discuss legislative activities, the content of amendments to legal acts, and the consequences brought about by introducing defective regulations into the legal order of the Third Republic of Poland, both at the national and international level.