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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has issued a new ruling confirming that a Supreme Court chamber created by Poland’s former Law and Justice (PiS) government is illegitimate and its judgements should be regarded as “null and void” due to its judges being unlawfully appointed.
The ruling has been welcomed as “extremely important” by Poland’s current justice minister, Waldemar Żurek. He says it highlights how illegitimate judges are still populating Polish courts, including the Supreme Court, and that it is time for the government to “finally put things in order”.
#ECJ: A national court must consider the judgment of a higher court that does not constitute an independent and impartial tribunal previously established by law to be null and void #RuleOfLaw 👉 https://t.co/ATb3CgbPxg
— EU Court of Justice (@EUCourtPress) September 4, 2025
The ruling in question has rather unusual roots, stemming from a 20-year-old dispute between two Polish publishers over a crossword magazine. That case was settled by a court judgment issued in 2006.
However, in 2021, the Supreme Court’s chamber of extraordinary oversight and public affairs ordered that the 2006 ruling be set aside and that the case be sent back to the lower civil court for reexamination.
The oversight chamber was created under the former PiS government as part of its radical and contested overhaul of the judiciary. In 2023, the CJEU found that the chamber is “not an independent and impartial tribunal established by law”.
That is because the chamber is filled with judges nominated by the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) – the body responsible for choosing judges – after it was overhauled by PiS in a manner that rendered it no longer independent of political influence.
After the civil court was asked in 2021 by the Supreme Court’s oversight chamber to reexamine the crossword dispute, it turned to the CJEU for clarification on whether it should comply with the request, given the chamber’s disputed status.
In its ruling on Thursday, the CJEU said the lower court must take into account that the oversight “chamber does not satisfy the conditions of independence, impartiality and previous establishment by law established by EU law”.
Therefore, in cases where a national court finds that “the decision to refer the case back for re-examination was delivered by a judicial panel that does not comply with the requirements of EU law, that decision would have to be declared to be null and void”, added the CJEU.
A chamber of the Supreme Court created by the former PiS government is "not a tribunal established by law", the EU's top court has found.
The same chamber is due next month to rule on the validity of the recent elections at which PiS lost power https://t.co/gXgHSobD8C
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 22, 2023
Poland’s own constitutional court, which remains stacked with PiS-era judges, has previously found that the CJEU does not have the authority to issue such rulings.
However, in its latest judgement, the EU court hit back, noting that “the principle of primacy of EU law, and the binding effects of decisions of the [EU] Court, mean that such verification [of judges] cannot be prevented either by national legislation or by the case-law of the Polish Constitutional Court”.
The CJEU’s decision could also have wider implications, given that around 2,500 judges at various levels of the court system were appointed through the KRS after it was rendered illegitimate by PiS.
“The presence, on the panel concerned, of a single judge whose appointment does not satisfy the requirements referred to is sufficient to deprive it of its status as an independent and impartial tribunal previously established by law, within the meaning of EU law,” wrote the EU court on Thursday.
The justice ministry has revealed how it plans to deal with 2,500 judges illegitimately appointed under the PiS government’s judicial reforms
They would be put into three categories based on how they were nominated and what consequences they will now face https://t.co/VyT14WDBX9
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 14, 2025
Jakub Jaraczewski, a legal expert at Democracy Reporting International, notes that the new ruling highlights how Poland’s rule-of-law crisis is not just about high-profile cases of judges fighting back against mistreatment at the hands of the former PiS government.
The fact that “this case came from a crossword business fight underscores how” it is often “very mundane businesses and situations” that are impacted by the legal chaos and uncertainty, Jaraczewski told Notes from Poland.
Poland’s current government, a broad coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk that replaced PiS in December 2023, has pledged to reverse PiS-era reforms and restore the independence and legitimacy of the judiciary.
Fifteen months since the change of government, Poland's rule-of-law crisis continues – indeed, many Poles think the situation has got worse.@J_Jaraczewski explains the roots of the crisis, what its impact has been, and how it might be resolved https://t.co/7KOCURV3dU
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 17, 2025
However, progress in that direction was stymied by opposition from former President Andrzej Duda, who was aligned with PiS and wielded the presidential power to veto legislation. His successor, Karol Nawrocki, who is also aligned with PiS, is likely to continue blocking the government’s reforms.
Commenting on yesterday’s CJEU ruling, Żurek, the justice minister, said that “this judgement is extremely important for each of us” as it reiterates that “individuals who do not have the status of [judges] still sit on the Supreme Court”.
“We must finally put things in order,” declared Żurek, who also warned that “those who don robes knowing that they are not [judges] will have to pay from their own pockets the compensation” that Poland is ordered to pay by European courts.
💭 Osoby, które zakładają togi, choć wiedzą, że nie są sądem, a przez ich działania Polska musi wypłacać odszkodowania, będą musiały pokryć te koszty z własnej kieszeni.
⚖️ Minister Waldemar Żurek komentuje dzisiejszy wyrok TSUE C-225/22 pic.twitter.com/PK4sfIIaDQ
— Min. Sprawiedliwości (@MS_GOV_PL) September 4, 2025
The Supreme Court’s oversight chamber has drawn particular attention this year because of its role in confirming the validity of elections and settling any challenges to the conduct and results of elections.
The chamber’s disputed status has led some, including certain figures from Tusk’s ruling coalition, to suggest that it could not legally validate Nawrocki’s election. However, critics noted that Tusk’s own government came to power in elections validated by the same chamber.
Artur Nowak-Far, a law professor at the Warsaw School of Economics, told news website Gazeta.pl that, because elections are a national matter and “do not fall under the scope of EU law”, the CJEU cannot adjudicate on whether the chamber has the competence to rule on Polish elections.
The chamber of Poland’s Supreme Court tasked with overseeing elections – but whose legitimacy is rejected by the government and European courts – has confirmed conservative opposition candidate @NawrockiKn as the winner of last month’s presidential vote https://t.co/LoKBKT6PTX
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 1, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Transparency International/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.