The leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jarosław Kaczyński, said that the government’s new judicial reform legislation is designed to prevent the courts from being “blown up” and counter the recent behavior of the judiciary, which amounted to “anarchy”.
To combat a court system that many Poles believe has gone out of control, the ruling party has prepared a draft of legislation to tighten up the disciplinary system for the judiciary.
The measures include making the undermining of the status of another judge a disciplinary offense. Judges who engage in such activities may be fined and moved to another court, or even removed from the profession.
The legislation also obliges judges to reveal any internet activity and provide the government with all the internet usernames and nicknames they use. The new law would also change the method of election of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court so that the president may overrule any decision to limit the actual number of Supreme Court judges entitled to take part.
The legislation would prevent the Supreme Court from making any rulings on the legitimacy of the National Judicial Council and thereby on the legitimacy of the decisions taken by it to nominate judges to the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court.
