Adam Bodnar and Adam Ploszka. “The Struggle for the Independence of the Judiciary: From Communism to the Rule of Law Crisis.” In The Oxford Handbook of Polish Politics, edited by Katarzyna Walecka, Simona Guerra, and Fernando Casal Bértoa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192873149.013.0012.

The judiciary in Poland has become one of the key elements of legal and political debate in recent years, both in terms of national and international politics. In this chapter, we characterize public authorities’ efforts aimed at limiting the independence of the judiciary since 2015 and domestic and international reactions to them. We argue that the causes of the rule of law crisis, as it relates to the judiciary, although nuanced and multi-layered, are at the same time deeply rooted in the shortcomings of Poland’s systemic transition from communism to democracy. For this reason, in this chapter, we adopt a broader perspective on this crisis, taking into account the changes that have been taking place in the judiciary since the fall of communism. We also argue that the crisis in the Polish judiciary has not only had an impact on domestic law and politics but also contributed to the strengthening of judicial independence standards in the European legal space.