On November 19, 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (C.J.E.U.) issued its preliminary ruling [3] in Joined Cases C‑585/18, C‑624/18, and C‑625/18, each involving questions relating to the independence of the newly-created Disciplinary Chamber within the Polish Supreme Court. According to a press release [4] issued by the Court, the cases involved actions by three Polish judges challenging amendments to the law on retirement age (covered in a previous ASIL ILIB post [5]). In particular, the referring queried the jurisdiction of the Disciplinary Chamber and asked the C.J.E.U. "whether, on account of concerns relating to the independence of that chamber, it was required to disapply national rules on the distribution of jurisdiction and, if necessary, rule itself on the substance of those cases." In reiterating the importance of judicial independence from the executive to the EU principle of effective judicial protection, the C.J.E.U. set forth a number of considerations that the referring court should take into account in its determination of whether the Disciplinary Chamber satisfied EU law requirements of independence. Such considerations include rules relating to the composition of the body, its appointment, its length of service, and applicable grounds for dismissal of its members. The case will return to the referring court for a ruling in light of the C.J.E.U. judgment.