On Friday evening, representatives of the group elected as judges of the Constitutional Tribunal in this term of the Sejm announced that Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, as the oldest judge, had become the head of the Constitutional Tribunal. At the same time, it issued an order suspending the activities of the President of the Constitutional Tribunal, Bogdan Święczkowski, and the Vice-President, Bartłomiej Sochański. The General Assembly of Judges of the Constitutional Tribunal convened by her was held yesterday.
At the convened meeting, among others: judges were selected at random for disciplinary proceedings against Święczkowski and Sochański. Korwin-Piotrowska was selected to hear Sochański's case.
In the case regarding the order against Święczkowski, judge Stanisław Piotrowicz was selected as the disciplinary spokesman.
The following people were selected to the adjudicating panel in this case: Magdalena Bentkowska, Maciej Taborowski and Krystian Markiewicz. Bentkowska became the chairman and rapporteur.
Dariusz Szostek became the disciplinary spokesman in the case relating to Sochański.
The following judges were selected to hear this order: Maciej Berek, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska and Rafał Wojciechowski. Berek became the chairman and Wojciechowski became the rapporteur.
"I will file a motion to exclude me from hearing Judge Sochański's case"
However, Korwin-Piotrowska announced in an evening statement that she would submit a request to exclude her from hearing Judge Sochański's case.
But after thinking about this issue, I have come to the conclusion that I will submit a request to exclude me from hearing Judge Sochański's case due to the fact that I was the one who made and issued the order for an immediate break - emphasized Korwin-Piotrowska in a statement broadcast by TVN24 in the evening.
She emphasized that "courts must be impartial and independent." Every person who is subject to trial must be convinced that it is a court that complies with the law and ensures that no one has any influence and that my previous conviction, which was the basis for ordering a break, will not matter for the resolution of this case, she emphasized.
Even before the drawing, Korwin-Piotrowska expressed her doubts about including her in the pool of possible people drawn in these cases. After discussion, it was finally decided that she would be included in the draw.
Święczkowski on "usurper judges"
At yesterday's General Assembly of Judges of the Constitutional Tribunal, a resolution regarding next year's budget of the Tribunal was also adopted.
Earlier, it was voted that the quorum for Tuesday's deliberations is eight judges of the Constitutional Tribunal.
On Saturday, President Święczkowski stated that "together with legal judges" of the Constitutional Tribunal, they agreed that they would not take part in events organized by "usurper judges", including the General Assembly of Constitutional Tribunal Judges scheduled for Tuesday. A usurper cannot convene the General Assembly, Święczkowski said.
Eight judges attended the General Assembly
At the beginning of Tuesday's deliberations, Korwin-Piotrowska indicated that "there are eight judges of the Constitutional Tribunal present in the courtroom", while "a total of twelve people are obliged" to participate in the assembly.
As she pointed out, the attendance list of the General Assembly of Judges of the Constitutional Tribunal included "all judges of the Constitutional Tribunal elected by the Sejm", while "due to the fact that orders on an immediate break from office were issued against Judge Bartłomiej Sochański (...) and Mr. Bogdan Święczkowski on October 30, this excludes the obligation and right of such judges to participate in the assembly."
She also informed that the list also includes judge Jarosław Wyrembak, who in turn "is not and cannot take part in this vote due to the faulty selection procedure."
Confusion over the quorum
Then the agenda moved on to the controversial issue of whether the number of those present at the meeting meets the quorum within the meaning of the provisions of the Act on the organization and procedure of proceedings before the Constitutional Tribunal. According to the constitution, the Constitutional Tribunal consists of 15 judges. According to the Act on the organization and procedure of proceedings before the Constitutional Tribunal, "the General Assembly adopts resolutions by an absolute majority of votes, in the presence of at least 2/3 of the total number of judges of the Tribunal" - with a total number of 15 judges of the Constitutional Tribunal, this is 10 people.
According to, among others, President Święczkowski and the presidential side, there are currently 10 judges in the Constitutional Tribunal, including three elected by the Sejm of the current term. President Karol Nawrocki did not take the oath from the other five people elected by the Sejm in this term, and therefore Święczkowski did not allow them to adjudicate.
In turn, according to, among others, on the government side, after the Sejm elected eight people as judges of the Constitutional Tribunal this term, the composition of the Tribunal was increased to 15 people, with two judges: Święczkowski and Sochański suspended from their duties. Moreover, it is argued that Jarosław Wyrembak does not have the status of a Constitutional Tribunal judge, because he took up the function in place of a person "faultily" elected to the Constitutional Tribunal - journalistically referred to as a "double judge".
Korwin-Piotrowska: 2/3 of twelve is eight
There is no doubt that there are eight of us here, said Korwin-Piotrowska at Tuesday's meeting.
She assessed that if the act specified the number of required judges as a fraction (2/3), the legislator "assumed that the final number" of judges needed to adopt resolutions would have to be calculated "for a given day, at a given moment."
I understand that we all agree that there are 12 people entitled to participate and to the assembly, she said.
Therefore, she emphasized, by calculating 2/3 of 12 people, "we will not obtain any other result than eight" people needed to adopt resolutions.
Ultimately, a vote was taken, and all those gathered voted in favor of the fact that the quorum was eight at Tuesday's meeting.
Therefore, Korwin-Piotrowska stated that "there is a quorum for an effective and valid" adoption of a resolution on the draft budget of the Constitutional Tribunal for 2027.
In the resolution adopted on Tuesday, the Assembly adopted that it considers "it necessary to include budget part 06 - the Constitutional Tribunal in the budget act for 2027, which is a condition for the proper implementation of the constitutional tasks of the Constitutional Tribunal."
This is an appeal to the legislative authority to simply include our adopted draft plan of expenses and revenues of the Constitutional Tribunal at this stage of parliamentary work, if it comes to that, said Korwin-Piotrowska before the vote.
She added that, together with other judges of the Constitutional Tribunal, she hopes that this "postulate (...) will be implemented and funds for the functioning of the Tribunal will be secured."
