President Karol Nawrocki publicly rebuked Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek in Warsaw, accusing the minister of misinterpreting the constitution over judicial appointments and of overlooking key rulings.
President Nawrocki Criticizes Justice Minister Żurek
Nawrocki said it was very sad that the Justice Minister did not observe the Constitution, which clearly defines the president’s competence in judicial nominations.
He added that it is doubly saddening that the minister does not know the 2012 Constitutional Tribunal ruling.
He understands that in this legal acrobatic effort the minister attempts to draw attention to a lack of justification, but there is no need for such justification because all judges appointed by the president are state judges and should issue rulings, not turn court rooms into parliamentary chambers.
Nawrocki wished the minister a pleasant gymnastics.
Constitutional Basis of the President’s Authority
Nawrocki stated that it is a constitutional matter that the president may nominate judges and that the minister should respect the Polish Constitution and the Constitutional Tribunal’s rulings.
He added that, as all presidents can nominate judges, they may also decline based on Polish law and Constitution.
I wish the minister a pleasant legal gymnastics, because I feel he is beginning to slowly eat his own tail.
Żurek Responds to Nawrocki’s ‘Key to Rejection’
A press conference was held earlier; the minister commented on Nawrocki’s decision to decline the nominations of 46 judges.
The minister said motives for the rejection were whispers from himself that the president disliked them, which were entirely out of law and unconstitutional, and claimed such an approach violates the constitution.
He asked what the key to the rejection was; we found that all those persons had signed protest lists in 2020 and 2021, related to so‑called envelope elections.
