The Ministry of Justice issued a message with a noteworthy reminder that “The hierarchy of legal acts in force in Poland unambiguously identifies the Constitution of the Republic of Poland as the legal act of the highest order (…)” (Announcement of the Minister of Justice on standards regarding the right to a fair trial, https://www.gov.pl/web/sprawiedliwosc/komunikat-ministra-sprawiedliwosci-w-sprawie-standardow-w-zakresie-prawa-do-rzetelnego-procesu?fbclid=IwAR1ZXZJnwsUfi5vVfJn6AnFQNOVNids8ZeZZcNAE9Z1Vczrz3vUb83VU7_A).
The same Constitution contains Article 188(1), which states: “The Constitutional Tribunal shall rule on the constitutionality of laws and international agreements”. And this very Tribunal has already adjudicated on the constitutionality of the Law on the National Council for the Judiciary. In its ruling of 25 March 2019, ref. K 12/18, it concluded that the law complies with the Constitution. The rulings of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal cannot be overruled by a social media post of a member of the government.
Meanwhile, the mockery of law and logic continues. Today, the Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar ignores the rulings of the Constitutional Tribunal because they do not suit him and make his unconstitutional actions more difficult.
Therefore, it needs to be reminded that Adam Bodnar himself obeyed the judgment of the same Constitutional Tribunal, which ruled in 2021 on the unconstitutionality of Article 3(6) of the Act on the Ombudsman allowing the Ombudsman to perform his tasks after the expiry of his term of office until the election of a successor, since it is incompatible with Article 209 (1) in conjunction with Articles 2 and 7 of the Constitution. The ruling of 15 April 2021, ref. K 20/20, was delivered by a panel of judges comprising Julia Przyłębska, Stanisław Piotrowicz (to be “recalled” by a nonbinding resolution of the Sejm), Justyn Piskorski (described by the government as a “double”, also to be “recalled” by a nonbinding resolution of the Sejm), Bartłomiej Sochański and Wojciech Sych.
The announcement of the Office of the Ombudsman from the period reads: “After the publication of the ruling of 15 April, the Ombudsman of the seventh term, Prof Adam Bodnar, told journalists that according to the ruling he is performing his duties until it becomes effective (…). Prof. Adam Bodnar thanked all those who supported him and the Office. He assured that the institution as a whole will work in the coming months to ensure that citizens receive assistance” (CT: the provision allowing the Ombudsman to perform his duties after the expiry of his term will stop being effective in 3 months, https://bip.brpo.gov.pl/pl/content/rozprawa-przed-tk-mandat-rpo-odroczenie-13-kwietnia).
And this was how Adam Bodnar bid his farewell to the office of the Ombudsman, respecting the ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal, which is not to his liking today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W88lxccHlk&ab_channel=OKOpress.
