There is no justification for this project. There is no substantive reference to the regulations that are being changed. We do not know why and what the purpose of these changes is – said Supreme Court judge Jarosław Matras on TVN24, commenting on the presidential draft regulation on amending the rules of the Supreme Court.
President Andrzej Duda wants to change the rules of the Supreme Court. He submitted a draft regulation to the Supreme Court. As judge Włodzimierz Wróbel writes, the change would mean that “faultily appointed judges themselves could issue a ruling in their own case, which would confirm that they are judges of the Supreme Court.”
Read more: “It’s sewn with such thick threads it’s astonishing.” The president wants to change the rules of the Supreme Court
One of the proposed changes assumes a change in the number of judges required “to adopt a resolution of the full bench of the Supreme Court or the combined chambers.” Currently, the participation of 2/3 of all judges is necessary, and after the change, only 1/2 would be sufficient.
Matras: the question arises what this case is about
The case was commented on by Supreme Court judge Jarosław Matras on TVN24. – Looking at it from the perspective of why now and why we should give opinions so quickly, because the project was yesterday, and today it is supposed to be a college. So this is an extremely fast mode of giving opinions. The question arises what this case is about, he said.
– If suddenly, after a few years – and I would like to remind you that the first draft of the presidential regulations was issued in 2018 – after four years, the president comes to the conclusion that the quorum is too large, then the question is why it is too large, because the justification for these regulations does not include no opinion on this and no explanation. There is simply no justification there. So we’re all starting to wonder what this is all about,” he continued.
– I think that the voices that are already in the media regarding the intention of this proposal are probably heading in this direction. Firstly, by reducing the quorum in individual chambers, judges who were appointed to the Supreme Court in a faulty procedure would regain the ability to adjudicate and bind other judges with their resolutions, he added.
Jarosław MatrasTVN24
As he stated, “a quorum of two-thirds makes it impossible to adopt a resolution because there are also judges who are properly seated in the positions of the Supreme Court, while reducing the quorum means that the ability to pass resolutions will no longer exist in the Civil Chamber.”
Matras: we don’t know why and what the purpose of these changes is
– I checked when I had some time, which was the case last time. Well, the previous regulations, which entered into force on July 15, 2022 in connection with the liquidation of the Disciplinary Chamber, were given our opinion for a period of six days. So from the moment the members of the college were notified that there was a proposal from the president to change the regulations, we had six days to consider and vote on this project, said Judge Matras.
– Today is to be a substantive meeting of the college, because this is the only point of the college meeting. This is a vote on the opinion of the president’s project to change the regulations – he added.
– There is no justification for this project. There is no substantive reference to the regulations that are being changed. We don’t know why and what the purpose of these changes is, he said.
Main photo source: Paweł Supernak/PAP