Supreme Court of Poland

Supreme Court of Poland
Polish: Sąd Najwyższy
Established	September 1, 1917 (1917-09-01)
Location	Warsaw
Composition method	Presidential nomination
Authorised by	Constitution of Poland
Number of positions	120 (by statute)
Website	sn.pl
First President of the Supreme Court
Currently	Małgorzata Manowska (disputed)
Since	May 25, 2020 (2020-05-25)

The Supreme Court building, Warsaw

Hall of the Supreme Court building, Warsaw

The Supreme Court (Polish: Sąd Najwyższy) is the highest court in the Republic of Poland. It is located in the Krasiński Square, Warsaw.

Krasiński Palace, location of the Court in 1917–1939

One of the chambers of the Supreme Court, the Disciplinary Chamber, was suspended by a judgment of the CJEU. Despite the judgment, the chamber continues to operate.

Function

The Supreme Court supervises the adjudication in:

• General courts: these are district, circuit, and appeal courts. They adjudicate in the areas of civil, criminal, family and labour law.
• Military courts: these are circuit and garrison courts. They deal with matters relating to crimes committed by soldiers in active service, civilian employees in military units, and prisoners of war.

The Supreme Court is the court of last resort of appeal against judgements in the lower courts (except for administrative courts). It also passes resolutions to clarify specific legal provisions and resolve disputable questions in specific cases. These however are not (at least technically) legally binding.

Appointment of judges

The President of Poland appoints Supreme Court judges for an indefinite period. This is done upon a motion of the National Council of the Judiciary. The President also selects the First President of the court from candidates presented by the General Assembly of the Supreme Court. The First President holds office for a six-year term, though he or she may be dismissed by the Sejm upon a motion by the President if found convicted of a crime.

In July 2018 a new law came into force which lowers the mandatory retirement age from 70 to 65. The introduction of this law is contested and the constitutionality of the law is being assessed. Critics have argued the law is aimed at removing non-pliant judges and installing appointees desired by the current government, led by the Law and Justice party.

2017–2018 Constitutional Crisis

Further information: 2015 Polish Constitutional Court crisis

In 2017 the Polish government passed a law which would have forced all Supreme Court judges into mandatory retirement apart from those granted an extension by the Minister of Justice. The bill was passed in the Polish Sejm and the Senate however following mass protests against the bill it was ultimately vetoed by President Andrzej Duda on 24 June 2017. A revised bill reduced mandatory retirement age of judges from 70 to 65. The bill was later signed by President Duda and came into force in July 2018. The law effectively retires 40% of the Supreme Court bench including the First President of the Supreme Court, Malgorzata Gersdorf.

Polish opposition parties, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Polish Supreme Court, and the National Council of the Judiciary have claimed the law is unconstitutional because it violates the principles of the independence of the judiciary. In August 2018 the Supreme Court sent questions to the European Court of Justice regarding the reforms. Under Union law the court can prevent the State law from coming into force if it undermines the treaties of the European Union regarding judicial independence.

On 17 December 2018, President Duda signed a law that will reinstate the judges who had been forced out of their jobs.

On 8 April 2020 the EU Court of Justice ruled in a court case ("Commission v Poland") that the state of Poland "had failed to fulfil its obligations under EU law". As a result, the Court granted "the Commission’s application for interim measures" which will likely be realised with monetary fines.

After CJUE suspend the Disciplinary Chamber

On 12 October 2020, Adam Tomczyński a friend of Polish Minister of Justice, from that not recognized chamber have waived the immunity of Beata Morawiec (pl:Beata Morawiec), judge of the District Court in Kraków.
Moments after that the European Association of Judges expresses its unbreakable solidarity to Judge Beata Morawiec and to all independent Polish judges and ones again stated that "The Disciplinary Chamber of the Polish Supreme Court is not a court and cannot continue to act as one" and urges the European Commission to take all necessary measures to urgently reestablish the EU legal order in Poland.

List of First Presidents of the Supreme Court

No	Name	Image	In office		Notes
Republic of Poland
1.	Stanisław Pomian-Srzednicki		1 September 1917 – 28 February 1922
2.	Franciszek Nowodworski		1 March 1922 – 3 August 1924
3.	Władysław Seyda		22 September 1924 – 17 January 1929
4.	Leon Supiński		17 January 1929 – 1 September 1939
Polish People's Republic
5.	Wacław Barcikowski		26 January 1945 – 12 November 1956
6.	Jan Wasilkowski		12 December 1956 – 22 May 1967
7.	Zbigniew Resich		3 May 1967 – 21 January 1972
8.	Jerzy Bafia		21 January 1972 – 1 April 1976
9.	Włodzimierz Berutowicz		1 April 1976 – 14 May 1987
10.	Adam Łopatka		14 May 1987 – 30 June 1990
No	Name		In office	President of Poland	Notes
Republic of Poland
11.	Adam Strzembosz		1 July 1990 – 17 October 1998	Wojciech Jaruzelski
12.	Lech Gardocki		17 October 1998 – 18 October 2010	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
13.	Stanisław Dąbrowski		19 October 2010 – 9 January 2014	Bronisław Komorowski	Died in office
–	Lech Paprzycki		9 January 2014 – 30 April 2014		acting
14.	Małgorzata Gersdorf		30 April 2014 – 30 April 2020
–	Józef Iwulski		4 July 2018 – 20 July 2018	Andrzej Duda	(disputed) acting, rejected the appointment and insisted that Małgorzata Gersdorf remained in office
–	Dariusz Zawistowski		13 September – 31 December 2018		(disputed) acting, rejected the appointment and insisted that Małgorzata Gersdorf remained in office
–	Kamil Zaradkiewicz		1 May 2020 – 15 May 2020,		(disputed) acting, resigned
–	Aleksander Stępkowski		15 May 2020 – 25 May 2020		(disputed) acting
15.	Małgorzata Manowska		25 May 2020 – present		(disputed)

See also

• Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland

External links

• Supreme Court of the Republic of Poland