One-sidedly Staffed Courts - A Problem of Impartiality – not only in Poland

Abstract

In Poland, the new parliamentary majority elected on October 15 is confronted not only with a president brought into office by the PiS party but also with a constitutional court made up exclusively of judges elected under the aegis of PiS. Any effort to restore the rule of law in the Polish judiciary is likely to meet resistance from these veto players. The difficulties to be expected for the new majority in dealing with the rule of law deficiencies that have piled up in the Polish justice system, and especially in the Polish Constitutional Tribunal since 2010 (on these difficulties here, pp. 227 ff., and here) draw attention to an underlying problem to be witnessed not only in Poland, and not only in other countries where democracy and the rule of law have deteriorated or never existed: the problem of courts, and in particular constitutional courts, with a blatant lack of political balance in their composition.

Keywords

• Checks and Balances
• Court
• Court
• Court Packing
• Gewaltenteilung
• Judicial appointment