The Decline of the Postwar Constitutional Paradigm: Review Article of Constitutional Democracy in Crisis?, eds. M.A. Graber, S. Levinson, M. Tushnet, ISBN-13: 978-0190888985, ISBN-10: 0190888989, Oxford University Press, New York 2018, pp. 738

“Constitutional Democracy in Crisis?” published in 2018 by Oxford University Press significantly enriches contemporary debate on constitutional topics. This review article briefly outlines the volume edited by M.A. Graber, S. Levinson and M. Tushnet. What makes this book distinctive is its critical approach to the present status of constitutional democracy, which I associate with the influence of the editors whom I count among the most inspiring current constitutional thinkers. Moreover, this is a truly collaborative effort, not just a collection of papers. An impressive array of contributors produced a detailed study on the apparent weakening of many constitutional democracies around the world. Deeds and refusals to obey the law were written down which makes this volume a chronicle of the erosion of democracy during the first two decades of the 21 st century. I argue that the book also shows the decline of the postwar constitutional paradigm and the crisis of the academic reflection about the constitutional law. In this sense the book is like a snapshot of the transitional moment between the discredited past and an unknown future. I expand this theme in the second part of the review drawing on authors such as U. Mattei and L. Nader (the illegality of the rule of law), M.F. Massoud (the use of law to maintain power), F.J. Urbina (a critique of proportionality and balancing), A. Sulikowski (the tension between the constitutional thinking and the modernity), L.M. Seidman (the constitutional disobedience), M.P. Markowski (the damaging role of values in the political process), J. Dukaj (the politics in the era of post-literacy).

The principle of a state of law belongs to the basic canons of contemporary democracy and remains the fundamental constitutional value and principle of all the democratic states. Its scope and interpretation usually are derived from the national constitutional order and results primarily from the basic law. In the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997, being currently in force, it adopted the formula of the principle of a democratic legal state, combining the elements of a state of law, the rule of law and the democratic method of exercising power. Its contemporary understanding is derived from the output of the European constitutional law doctrine, the systemic experience of states with mature, established and solidified traditions of democracy, as well as from the judicature of the Constitutional Tribunal. This paper aims at conducting analysis of the content and scope of the principle of a democratic legal state provided by the Polish basic law.

An in-depth analysis presented in this article concludes that the views and socio-political activities of Wacław Komarnicki were aimed at reasserting the Polish national interest and realizing the idea of the state of law associated with the rule of law. The analysis is based on archival and printed sources and selected literature on the subject. It required the use of appropriate research methods. The biographical method, in conjunction with the content analysis method, proved to be most helpful. Among the research techniques, the analysis of testimonies of political thought proved to be particularly useful.

„Even the same Ones, who are Established to be Protectors of Law, they Ought to be Their First Preservers”. On the Rule of Law in the Debate and Reform work of Polish Great Sejm (1788–1792)

Although the theoretical assumptions of the concept of the rule of law have been developed in the continental tradition only in the 19th century, its systemic elements have their roots deep in history. In this contribution, the author analyses selected examples from the field of legislation and legal culture of the Great Sejm era (1788–1792). She focuses in particular on the problems of articulation and functioning of the supremacy of the constitution in the legal order and the innovative shaping of the responsibilities of key state authorities. These issues notably seem to reflect the suspension between the domestic heritage and the modernity of constitutionalism. At the same time, both cases prove that the ratio legis of these solutions was primarily of a practical, not conceptual nature.

Considerations on the introduction of the constitutional control of the law in the era of the March Constitution – reconstruction of the discourse

The subject of the article is the reconstruction and explanation of the considerations on the failure to introduce the constitutional control of the law in the era of the March Constitution. It is argued that this was an issue noticeable by participants in legal and political relations, which was repeated during the period when it was in force, in particular after 1926 – due to the progressive abuse of the law and the fascization of political relations. Representatives of the doctrine of constitutional law are assigned a special role in promoting the importance of the control of the law for the process of building the rule of law. In this context the thesis of the article is as follows: the attitude to the control of the constitutionality of the law was not politically indifferent. It is argued that it was primarily the right-wing formations that opted for it, while the left-wing formations were against it.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Citizens’ Rights and Freedoms to Organize Assemblies

The article focuses on the freedom of citizens to organize assemblies during the COVID- 19 pandemic in Poland. The provisions of the Acts and the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of March 19, 2021 on the establishment of certain restrictions, orders and bans in connection with the occurrence of the epidemic, prohibiting or limiting the organization of assemblies during a pandemic in terms of the existence of pro-liberation or anti-freedom tendencies, were analyzed. The presented article is an attempt to consider the constitutionality of the provisions in force in this area. The law may become a tool of lawlessness, and it should be noted that the participation of citizens in assemblies is sometimes the only opportunity to express their views and one of the basic standards characterizing a democratic state ruled by law.

Constitutional Reform in Kyrgyzstan. Challenges and Threats to Democracy and the Rule of Law

The collapse of the USSR in 1991 led to the emergence of five independent states in Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. Four of them established an authoritarian form of government, while Kyrgyzstan became the only democratic state in the region. This may change after the referendum on constitutional reform, which is scheduled for 2021. The amendments to the Constitution provide for the extension of the president’s powers, which, according to many Kyrgyz researchers, may lead to the transformation of Kyrgyzstan into an authoritarian state. This article presents the results of the analysis of the draft amendment to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic initiated by the new president of the country, Sadyr Japarov.

Pandemic Challenges Versus Changes in the Law and System Practice Selected European Countries

The article presents the changes that have taken place in the laws and systemic practice of states as a result of counteracting the crisis related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The author, pointing to pandemic challenges as well as actions taken by governments of states belonging to the Council of Europe, pointed out that the peculiar bluntness of changes could be most noticed in the construction and implementation of regulations on states of emergency. On the other hand, the issue of modifying the constitution was approached more carefully.

In Search of a Systemic Model for Controlling the Law’s Compliance with the Constitution During the Period of the Second Republic of Polish

Searching a coherent model of the systemic control of the compliance of statutory law with the constitution was an arduous process conducted by theoreticians of law throughout the entire period of forming the system of the Second Polish Republic. The statements which seemed to be correct in the opinion of recognized legal authorities, were not – apart from a few exceptions that overcame the general aversion to such views – adopted by the legislator during the revision of the March constitution. What is more, the control of the constitutionality of the law was not accepted during the work on the April constitution. The reason for that was its ideological conditions, based on the concept of the President’s authoritarian supreme power in terms of state system, which did not allow for appointing a body responsible for examining the compliance of the acts of law with the constitution.

The Council of Europe plays a special role in promoting democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights. The events of recent years, and especially Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, have significantly changed the conditions for the implementation of the Council of Europe’s mission. The author analyzed, based on the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 2473 (2022) “Strengthening the role of the Council of Europe as a cornestone of the European political architecture”, the activities of the Council of Europe aimed at seeking its role in the emerging new political architecture of Europe. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine may create conditions for a new look at the opportunities offered by the Council of Europe for European development and create a climate for intensifying forms of cooperation between European international organizations in the event of new threats to European development.

The Permissibility of Ex Lege Termination of the Term of Office of the Judicial Members of the National Council of the Judiciary in its Composition Resulting from the Act of 8 December 2017, in the Light of the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights

The article analyzes the permissibility of terminating the terms of office of current members of the National Judiciary Council without providing them with access to court from the perspective of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The starting point is the judgment of the ECtHR in the case of Grzęda v. Poland, in which it was found that the ex lege termination of the terms of office of the NCJ members in 2018 violated Art. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. However, the interpretation of the ECHR cannot disregard the specific context related to the lack of independence of the current NCJ and its negative impact on the integrity of the judicial appointment process. These circumstances justify the conclusion that Art. 6 ECHR would not protect the current members of the NCJ from the termination of their terms of office.

In recent years, the European Union (“EU”) has faced unprecedented challenges in the rule of law. Besides apparent dangers, it has also offered the Union, its institutions and member states important space for new openings, self-rediscovery, and revisiting certain integration paradigms. This analysis argues that the “rule of law/value crisis” in the EU has created the same space for the Court of Justice to take on the paradigmatic jurisprudential shift from the market to the union of law and values. It posits that the European discourse must revisit the theory of supranational adjudication and offer a new reading of the Court’s mandate and function within the evolving supranational governance and design. In this process, reference to Art. 19 TEU and its connection to Art. 2 TEU have a special explicatory and axiological significance.