Gov't publishes Constitutional Tribunal ruling

The Government Legislation Center (Rządowe Centrum Legislacji) has published a Constitutional Tribunal ruling in the Journal of Laws, thus the verdict comes into force. On Friday, the head of the Chancellery of Prime Minister, Beata Kempa, suspended the publication, arguing that the court's bench was not complete. The verdict was reached by five judges, and in her opinion, the matter was of extraordinary importance, therefore it should be ruled by a full bench. However, according to the law, only the constitutional court itself is capable of determining whether the matter has the aforementioned character. The court ruled on December 3 that a paragraph of the amendment to the law on the Constitutional Tribunal, on the basis of which two out of five judges were elected in October, was not constitutional, while the choice of the remaining three is valid. The tribunal also said that the President Andrzej Duda had no right to refuse to swear them in. Instead, the President received oaths from five judges chosen by the Sejm with votes from PiS in November.