Disciplinary Proceedings as an Instrument for Breaking the Rule of Law in Poland

Abstract

This article advances the thesis that disciplinary proceedings may constitute a tool for breaking the rule of law in Poland. In 2017, as part of a package of legal changes to the judiciary, a disciplinary system was created in Poland to ensure that judges were subservient to the political will of the authorities. From the beginning, new disciplinary officers appointed by the Minister of Justice (the Prosecutor General) have targeted judges who disagree with unconstitutional changes to the judiciary. Disciplinary proceedings are by no means repressions that affect judges who demand that other authorities respect the rule of law in Poland. The article discusses, on a step by step basis, the practical mechanisms taken by the political authorities to break the rule of law in Poland. Particular attention is paid to the measures which have been taken concerning the judiciary. The article discusses the judgment of the CJEU on 19 November 2019 in combined cases C-585/18, C-624/18, and C-625/18 and the implementing resolution of the combined Civil, Criminal and Labour and Social Insurance Chambers of the Supreme Court on 23 January 2020 as well as the collapse of the rule of law in Poland from a practical perspective. The analysis of the recent events shows that after the so-called Muzzle Law (A bill amending the Act on the Organization of Ordinary Courts, the Act on the Supreme Court and the Act on the National Council of the Judiciary was submitted on 12 December 2019, and then voted on by the parliamentary majority in the lower house of the Polish Parliament (Sejm) on 20 December 2019.) came into force, the application of the resolution of the combined Civil, Criminal and Labour and Social Insurance Chambers of the Supreme Court on 23 January 2020 implementing the CJEU judgment in the joined cases C-585/18, C-624/18, and C-625/18 of 19 November 2019 can be and, in fact, is penalized by further disciplinary proceedings, which constitutes a real threat to the already weakened rule of law. Institutions and, above all, judges who are safeguarding the rule of law are being destroyed.