Polish President Karol Nawrocki refused to nominate nearly 50 judges due to what he says is their disloyalty to the Polish constitution.
“I refuse to nominate 46 judges. This is not just a verbal signal, but a concrete decision to deny nominations or promotions to those judges who question the constitutional and legal order of the Republic of Poland,” he said.
Nawrocki specifically called out Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek, who was nominated by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and “encourages judges to question the constitutional and legal order of the Republic of Poland,” writes wPolityce.
Nawrocki insisted that this should not surprise anyone, as he had made clear upon taking up his presidential mandate that “judges who question the constitutional and legal order of the Republic of Poland cannot count on promotions (…) nor on nominations from the Supreme Court,” if such decisions land on his desk.
“According to Article 179 of the Constitution, it is the prerogative of the President of the Republic of Poland to nominate judges, and each subsequent judge is nominated by the President of the Republic of Poland. Each judge nominated by the President of the Republic of Poland is a judge of the Republic of Poland, who is responsible for making decisions and issuing judgments on behalf of the Republic of Poland, in accordance with the Constitution and the constitutional and legal system,” he stated.
For any nay-sayers, the president assured people that this is “a very strong constitutional power of the president,” adding that it is “a prerogative that does not even require the prime minister’s countersignature.”
Last month, the justice minister had sought to remove former 46 PiS-appointed judges “to eliminate the risk of judgments issued by illegal benches, and the citizen gains certainty that their case will be heard quickly and by an independent court.”
The head of the presidential chancellery is reportedly going after Zurek for abuse of power, already requesting that prosecutors investigate him for criminal liability for “violating a number of provisions of the basic statute.”
