The abortion ruling of Poland’s politically servile Constitutional Tribunal was a debt repaid to Law and Justice’s rightwing Catholic constituency after its re-election last year. The reaction has been the biggest wave of demonstrations in the country since 1989.
Marta Bucholc
Sociologist at the Faculty of Sociology, University of Warsaw. Between 2015 and 2020 she was research professor at Käte-Hamburger-Kolleg ‘Recht als Kultur’ of Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. Her research focus is historical sociology, history of social theory, sociology of law, sociology of economy and sociology of knowledge.
Articles
Final act
The repression of the judiciary in Poland
The ruling of the European Court of Justice on the controversial reform of the Supreme Court of Poland was a victory for liberal opponents of PiS. Then came the judgment of the German Constitutional Court, and the prospects for the independence of the Polish judiciary have again worsened. On the latest escalation of a longstanding conflict.
Separation of powers undermined
The judicial reforms in Poland and the ruling of the ECJ
On 19 October, the European Court of Justice issued an injunction on Polish laws that the European Commission claims undermine the separation of powers in the country. On the political substance of a highly complex, legalistic assault on democratic institutions and the question of how far the ECJ ruling is likely to put a halt to a process well underway.