Polish president makes key Supreme Court appointment as judicial dispute persists

Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Thursday appointed Supreme Court judge Maria Szczepaniec as president of the Supreme Court’s Professional Responsibility Chamber, making another key judicial appointment in one of the country’s most contested judicial institutions amid an unresolved rule-of-law dispute with the European Union.

The presidential office stated on the US social media company X that Nawrocki signed the appointment on July 9 under Article 15a of the Supreme Court Act.

Szczepaniec was selected from three candidates presented to the president by the chamber’s judges, with the appointment taking effect immediately.

The Professional Responsibility Chamber hears disciplinary cases involving judges, prosecutors, and other legal professionals. It replaced the now-defunct Disciplinary Chamber in 2022 after the European Union’s top court ruled that the previous body had failed to meet standards of judicial independence.

However, the replacement chamber has itself remained controversial because many of its judges, including Szczepaniec, were appointed following Poland’s judicial reforms introduced after 2018 through the restructured National Council of the Judiciary (KRS).

Those appointments continue to be challenged by Poland’s current government, many legal experts and European courts, while supporters argue they are fully constitutional and legally valid.

The appointment is likely to deepen an institutional conflict between President Nawrocki, backed by the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) camp, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government, which has pledged to reverse elements of the previous government’s judicial reforms.