About us

Our goal is to document all these activities so that their perpetrators will suffer the appropriate political and legal consequences, their effects will be reversed, and the rule of law will be fully restored. We hope that our actions will call the current government to reason and stop further violations and mobilise the public to actively uphold the constitutional order. In particular, we encourage all readers of the website to report any observed violations of the rule of law by the authorities using the form provided on the website.

Below you will find the full text of the declaration signed on 16 June 2024 by the initiators of the project: the Ordo Iuris Institute, the Lawyers for Poland Association, the National Association of Judges of the Republic of Poland, the Ad Vocem Prosecutors Association, the Warsaw Seminar of Administrative Axiology and the Institute of Justice Foundation:

‘Recalling the words of the judicial oath and the oaths taken by representatives of the legal profession, we declare our faithful service to the Republic of Poland, working to strengthen the legal order of our Fatherland and the mechanisms for the protection of civil rights and freedoms. Through our actions, we aim to renew trust in the judiciary, restore citizens’ access to efficient and impartial justice system and give our professions their rightful role in its execution, with particular emphasis on judicial independence, the principles of professional ethics, dignity and integrity in the enforcement of the laws of the Republic of Poland established to safeguard social order, civil rights and freedoms.

We are all united by our concern for the Fatherland, which, according to Article 1 of the Polish Constitution, is the common good of all citizens.

In response to the blatant disregard for the principles on which the Republic of Poland is based, we would like to remind you that, according to the current Constitution, the rule of law is contingent upon respecting the hierarchy of legal acts and acting only within the limits of the law and on the basis of the law by all state authorities.

In the face of the deepening constitutional crisis, which includes questioning of the principles of judicial independence and the autonomy of judges by the executive and legislative branches, as well as the principles of legality and the rule of law, which form the foundation of the functioning of a democratic state based on the rule of law, we oppose the differentiation of the status of judges, the unlawful takeover of public media, prosecutor’s offices, especially the National Public Prosecutor’s Office, and court administrations including the courts of appeal. We are also concerned about the government’s plans to politically restructure and limit the democratic legitimacy of the National Council of the Judiciary, as well as changes to the structure of the Supreme Court and the announced challenge to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, which, in the light of the constitution, is considered ‘final’.

The organisations we represent pledge to work closely together to rebuild a stable justice system and respect for the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the system of sources of law and legal principles that constitute the civilisational legacy of European and Christian tradition.

The cooperation undertaken by the organisations we represent will take into account the diverse nature of the professions involved in achieving our common goal of halting the breakdown of the legal system, visible in every area of state activity.

As representatives of the legal profession, including judges, prosecutors, advocates, attorneys at law, bailiffs, notaries, and representatives of the academia, we declare to oppose all acts of lawlessness, condemning the perpetrators and their deeds. We also pledge to take all measures to hold accountable those who, using the slogan ‘restoring the rule of law’, violate the Polish Constitution and the legal customs appropriate to the European cultural circle. Through our cooperation, not only all violations of the Polish Constitution will be recorded, but in the future, the perpetrators of the political crisis we are experiencing will face consequences.

We jointly declare that we will make every effort to settle the acts of judicial lawlessness committed during the period of martial law by persons holding various functions and offices after 1989, regardless of their current location. We owe this to those who gave their lives in the struggle for an independent Poland.

Recognising the professional opposition, and often disgust and outrage, with which the actions of the state authorities are perceived in our circles, we turn to those judges, advocates, prosecutors, attorneys-at-law, bailiffs and notaries who wish to serve a law-abiding homeland in which equality before the law, justice and human dignity are adequately protected by law. There is a place for you among us.

It is time to express strong support for an objective constitutional order. It is time to categorically reject legal relativism, encapsulated in the Prime Minister’s memorable words about ‘the law as we understand it’.

We are aware that the response will be a decisive attack by interest groups and political coteries, as well as hostile actions by the state apparatus, but we are convinced that the time has come for the lawyers of the Republic of Poland to bear witness to the best ideals and principles on which the systemic and legal edifice of our Homeland was built. Following the Preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, which refers to the best traditions of the First and Second Republics, we are obliged to pass on to future generations everything that is valuable from over a thousand years of heritage.’