The President of Poland’s Supreme Court Malgorzata Gersdorf is expected to arrive at her office as usual on the morning of July 4, the day after President Andrzej Duda forced her into early retirement in line with a contested law, protests against which filled the streets of Warsaw and many other Polish cities last night.

The Polish government made another step to overhaul the country’s judiciary on July 3 as the highly contested law on the Supreme Court took effect, forcing a third of the court’s judges to retire early and cutting short Gersdorf’s constitutional tenure as president.

The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party plans to fill the vacancies with judges nominated by the National Judiciary Council, which the party took over earlier.

The square in front of the Supreme Court in Warsaw saw thousands rally last night in defence of the court’s independence. Protests also took place in dozens of other cities and towns across Poland.

PiS claims the judiciary needs reforming to make it more efficient and accessible to citizens as well as cleansing of judges who worked under the communist regime, which collapsed in 1989.

According to the domestic opposition and the European Commission, however, the reforms breach the EU principle of member states having to follow the rule of law, and risks putting courts under party control and infringing on people’s right to fair trial.

The Commission opened an infringement procedure against Poland over the Supreme Court law. At stake might be Poland’s voting rights in the EU and funding from the bloc’s next long-term budget.

Poland’s judiciary reforms also prompted Brussels to launch a concurrent process, known as Article 7, which in theory could end in stripping Warsaw of its voting rights in the EU and the suspension of funding from the next EU budget, which some member states want to be tied to respecting the rule of law.

The contested Supreme Court law says its judges must retire at age 65 unless they ask the president to continue their work. The president can reject such requests, and his decision can neither be reviewed nor challenged.  

That is a blatant violation of Poland’s Constitution, which says judges cannot be removed from office and guarantees the Supreme Court President’s term, top constitutional lawyers say.