Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki has refused to approve 46 judicial nominations, saying that the candidates in question have undermined the constitutional and legal order of the republic.
The move, announced on Wednesday, November 12th, represents a bold act of defiance against Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s left-liberal government, which has disregarded rulings by judges appointed during the previous conservative government, and has been waging lawfare against conservative judges and politicians since it came to power two years ago.
Karol Nawrocki said at a press briefing today:
I will not grant nominations or promotions to those judges who question the constitutional and legal order of the republic, who listen to the malicious whispers of the justice minister, Waldemar Żurek, who encourages judges to question the constitutional and legal order of Poland.
His office has yet to publish the list of judges affected, though Nawrocki suggested they were among those who have refused to recognise the legitimacy of their colleagues appointed during the Law and Justice (PiS) era.
The Tusk government has refused to acknowledge the validity of around 2,500 judges, fuelling years of legal chaos and uncertainty.
Government spokesman Adam Szłapka branded Nawrocki’s refusal “usurpation of power,” while Waldemar Żurek claimed the move was “unconstitutional.”
Yet supporters of the president say he is acting within his constitutional rights to defend the rule of law from political interference. “Such behaviour in the judiciary is unacceptable. It leads to anarchy. The President is setting clear boundaries,” wrote PiS MEP Mariusz Kamiński.
Commentators from across the conservative spectrum have hailed Nawrocki’s decision as a principled stand against a government that has, in their view, repeatedly ignored Poland’s own laws and court rulings to pursue political revenge. “He is standing guard over the constitution, blocking the nominations of politicians in robes who undermine the legal order,” said MP Janusz Kowalski.
Donald Tusk’s government has taken control of Poland’s justice system through unlawful dismissals of court leaders and political appointments. These actions have allowed the government to dominate the judiciary and use it for political persecution of opponents.
As Marcin Romanowski, a former deputy justice minister, who had to flee Tusk’s Poland, recently pointed out in an op-ed for europeanconservative.com: the aim is to restore a liberal-left judicial oligarchy loyal to EU elites, reverse conservative reforms, and entrench Tusk’s power. Romanowski says
Tusk can pursue this systematic destruction of the opposition under the pretext of ‘restoring the rule of law’ because he enjoys full support from Brussels and has already seized control of the prosecution service and the judiciary—particularly over the criminal divisions of Warsaw courts. All this happens with the full approval of Brussels, which, for eight years, relentlessly attacked the PiS government.
