Publication
Judicial transformation: The case of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal
In this article, Jaroslaw Kantorowicz and his coauthors analyse how recent political changes reshaped Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal and why this transformation provides important insights into contemporary democratic backsliding in Europe.
- Author
- Jaroslaw Kantorowicz, Lucia Dalla Pellegrina, Nuno Garoupa and Jacek Lewkowicz
- Date
- 13 November 2025
- Links
- Read the full article here
Their study examines constitutional review decisions from 2003 to 2023 and finds a sharp rise in the court’s alignment with government positions after the 2015 parliamentary elections. This shift is driven mainly by changes in the composition of the bench, especially the appointment of new judges by the ruling party, rather than behavioural adaptation by existing judges.
The authors show that court packing proved far more effective than attempting to influence older judges, who displayed limited evidence of strategic adjustment. The findings highlight how concentrated political power and short judicial tenures create opportunities for governments to reconfigure courts and weaken their independence. The article underscores the wider risks for constitutional democracy when populist governments use appointments and institutional incentives to reshape judicial authority, reducing the judiciary’s ability to act as an autonomous check on executive power.