The National Council of the Judiciary was established in 1989, a process of intense social and political changes related to the “Round Table” talks began in Poland, which led to significant constitutional changes, including the area of judicial bodies.

The Constitution in force creates a formal framework for the full independence of the judiciary, which it makes a separate authority and which includes courts and tribunals (Art.

The Polish judiciary should be generally assessed as meeting the requirements of the rule of law principle and international and European standards in this area.

[3] The National Council of the Judiciary is responsible for nominating judges to fill judicial vacancies; formal appointment is then made by the President of Poland.

[2] Representatives of the governing Law and Justice Party also criticized the council for nominating judges it claimed privileged their personal political ideologies to protect former officials of communist-era Poland.

[12] On December 20, the European Union moved to impose "unprecedented disciplinary measures against Poland" over a series of other laws enacted which it claimed allowed the government to "interfere significantly" with the judiciary.

[15] A separate poll by the TVN network in the summer of 2017 found that 55-percent of respondents said President Andrzej Duda should veto the then-proposed changes with 29-percent wanting him to sign them.

[17] The legislation was criticized by some who noted that all 15 currently serving judges on the National Council of the Judiciary would be removed and replaced using the new procedure, effectively giving the governing party the ability to select those members.

[7] Donald Tusk and Andrzej Rzepliński also both called on the Polish government to scrap the proposed changes, as did Amnesty International and the Council of Europe.

[19] The legislation was supported by several leading Polish political figures including prime minister Beata Szydło, former All-Polish Youth president Adam Andruszkiewicz, Law and Justice Party leader Jarosław Kaczyński, Zdzisław Krasnodębski MEP, and others.