Amendment of June 9, 2022 to the Act of the Supreme Court – real or illusory change?

This paper is devoted to the Act of June 9, 2022 amending the Act on the Supreme Court and certain other acts. Despite the liquidation of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, the analysis of this act leads to the conclusion that the Polish legislator petrifies the unconstitutional judicial appointments. Judges appointed to the Supreme Court with the participation of the National Council of the Judiciary, formed according to unconstitutional rules, will be able to continue to exercise judicial functions in that court. In addition, the unconstitutional procedure for the appointment of judges remains unchanged.

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.