Poland's new justice minister to dismiss dozens of court heads in move to “clean up” judiciary

In one of his first decisions, newly appointed justice minister Waldemar Żurek has moved to dismiss 46 presidents and vice-presidents of courts and nine officials from the justice ministry.

Żurek says that the measures are part of the mandate given to him by Prime Minister Donald Tusk to accelerate the “cleaning up” of the justice system after the “mess” left behind by the former Law and Justice (PiS) government.

The new justice minister, a former judge who regularly clashed with the PiS administration over its controversial judicial reforms, replaced Adam Bodnar as part of a government reshuffle announced by Tusk last week. He also serves as prosecutor general.

During his first press conference on Thursday, Żurek said that his primary goal would be “restoring the rule of law”, which he said remained compromised despite PiS being removed from power 19 months ago.

“I'm a professional who came here to clean up the mess because I know the system,” said Żurek, quoted by the Gazeta Wyborcza daily. He added that the prime minister guaranteed him independence, expecting improvements in the justice system that would be felt by citizens.

After PiS came to power in 2015, it overhauled the Constitutional Tribunal (TK) , the Supreme Court , and the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) , as well as lower-level courts. It also expanded the powers of the justice minister to appoint and dismiss court officials.

PiS's actions were seen by a variety of Polish and European courts, expert bodies , as well as the Polish public to have violated the rule of law and judicial independence, bringing the courts under greater political control and making them work less efficiently.

As part of efforts to jump-start the reform of the judiciary, Żurek announced today that he had decided to dismiss 46 court presidents and vice-presidents across Poland as well as nine people from delegations within the justice ministry.

The minister also asked the interior ministry to consider the removal of over 40 newly appointed judges acting as electoral commissioners, saying they lacked credibility.

He also dismissed the last remaining judicial disciplinary officer appointed by PiS-era justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro and called for the removal of others at the district and appellate level.

Żurek, meanwhile, said he would no longer refer to Małgorzata Manowska as the Supreme Court chief justice, but as its acting head, due to concerns over her appointment process. She is one of the so-called “neo-judges” nomination after PiS overhauled the National Council of the Judiciary in a manner that rendered it illegitimate

The first visible impact of Żurek's measures came on Wednesday, when suspensions began to be delivered to court officials. Among them was Małgorzata Hencel-Święckowska, the wife of Bogdan Święczkowski , who is head of the Constitutional Tribunal and former national prosecutor under PiS.

Święczkowski responded angrily to his wife's suspension, calling it “an act of revenge” and accusing Żurek of political motives. “No other grounds justify the decision of the minister, who, driven by pettiness, is retaliating for the Constitutional Tribunal's actions,” he said .

The government also does not regard the Constitutional Tribunal as legitimate due to the presence of judges illegally appointed under PiS. It has declined to publish a 2024 Constitutional Tribunal ruling that sought to block the justice minister's power to dismiss court presidents without the National Council of the Judiciary's opinion. Żurek, like his predecessor Bodnar, has ignored that ruling.

Today, Żurek also announced that he will be dropping the two civil suits he had filed against the state treasury for actions taken against him by the PiS authorities. His appointment as justice minister had created the strange situation in which he was both accused and guilty in the proceedings.

“I found this situation awkward and my personal rights, to which I am entitled as every citizen, are set aside in this situation,” he said.

In the first case, he had been seeking 150,000 zlotys (€35,000) in damages for what he described as a campaign of harassment after he became a public critic of PiS's judicial reforms – including disciplinary cases, surveillance, and personal interference by the justice ministry.

The second case, potentially worth up to PLN 1 million, accused several state institutions of illegally removing him from the KRS and leaking his asset declarations.

Main image credit: Ministry of Justice (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL )