Poland’s Constitutional Crisis Similar to US Battle Over Supreme Court

Polish President Andrzej Duda said that the former Polish government’s actions would have disturbed the high-court’s ideological balance because 14 of 15 justices would have been selected by the party that lost the election.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Poland and the United States share the same sort of crisis, with rival political parties battling over who gets to pick judges for their respective high courts, Polish President Andrzej Duda told guests at the National Press Club on Wednesday.

"The problem is slightly similar to what has been happening in your country recently," Duda said at the event sponsored by the Atlantic Council and the Center for European Policy Analysis.

The conflict in Poland began in October when the outgoing government named five judges to the nation’s 15-judge Constitutional Court. The incoming government refused to seat those judges and named five judges of its own.

"The conflict started because the then [outgoing] government tried to take ownership of the Constitutional Court," Duda explained.

Duda pointed out the former government’s actions would have disturbed the high-court’s ideological balance because 14 of 15 justices would have been selected by the party that lost the election.

The standoff prompted President Barack Obama to reject requests to meet with his Polish counterpart, who is in Washington, Dc to attend the Nuclear Security Summit.

The Polish constitutional crisis mirrors a similar standoff over Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the US Supreme Court. US Senate Republican leaders are refusing to meet with Garland, claiming the Supreme Court justice should be chosen by the next US president.