NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY VS. LIBERAL JURISTOCRACY

Since the political transformations of 1989, the centers of political, economic, and media power in Poland have remained largely in the hands of left-liberal circles, despite the conservative and national character of the majority of Polish society. One of the key areas completely dominated by leftist, liberal, and post-communist elites has been the judiciary, which in Poland has long functioned according to the textbook model of juristocracy. A significant political shift occurred in 2015, when the conservative camp obtained both social and legal legitimacy to carry out systemic reforms, first winning the presidential election and then securing an absolute majority in both chambers of Parliament. During eight years of United Right government, numerous reforms were implemented in the social, economic, and institutional spheres. In many areas, however, the necessary changes were either only partially undertaken or never initiated at all. The greatest resistance from the left-liberal establishment arose in response to the conservative government’s – partially successful – attempt to reform the broadly understood system of justice. In the autumn of 2023, after two consecutive conservative terms, a left-liberal coalition gained a parliamentary majority sufficient to form a government. It was determined to reverse all major changes introduced between 2015 and 2023, particularly in the area of justice. The purpose of this “return to the past” was to deprive citizens of any influence over the functioning of the judiciary and to restore that influence to a narrow, left-liberal judicial oligarchy. All of this was intended to ensure that, regardless of election results, a society that is inherently conservative would be prevented from changing the direction of state policy— through the authorities it had freely chosen—in accordance with a conservative, national, or Christian agenda and in line with the interests of the state as a whole. It was the power of the juristocracy, devoid of any democratic legitimacy, that served to restrict the will of the people. In addition, this juristocracy engaged in a progressive reinterpretation—or rather, destruction—of the traditional meaning of legal concepts, thereby arrogating to itself lawmaking powers and, at times, even the constituent power (pouvoir constituant).

 It carried out these actions entirely without oversight, all under the convenient pretense of “judicial interpretation” supposedly performed by an independent, impartial, and autonomous court— criticism of which was treated almost as a crime against the state and the constitution. Poland has, since 2023, become a unique testing ground for the dismantling of state institutions in a society that is conservative and traditional by its very nature. This process has been unfolding within a framework of lawlessness, carried out under the banner of “militant democracy.” It began under the conditions of a liberal dictatorship of the minority. In 2023, the five-year term of President Andrzej Duda—representing the conservative camp—was still in effect. The president retained his key constitutional powers, including the right to nominate judges and the suspensive veto in the legislative process, which may only be overridden by a three-fifths majority in the lower house of Parliament (the Sejm). Since the left-liberal coalition neither possessed nor presently possesses such a majority, it has, in fact, lacked the legal legitimacy to govern par excellence—holding, at most, a mandate for day-to-day administration.