European Court of Justice Orders Poland to Suspend Supreme Court Retirement Law (October 19, 2018) [1]
On October 19, 2018, the Vice President of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ordered [3] (available in French) Poland to immediately suspend provisions of the recent Polish law on the Supreme Court that lower the retirement age for Supreme Court judges to 65, which would have the effect of removing nearly one-third of the Court’s judges. In October 2018, the European Commission brought an action before the CJEU, arguing that Poland had infringed EU law concerning judicial independence by applying the new law to judges appointed before the law was enacted and giving the President of Poland the discretion to extend the judges’ terms. The Vice President ordered that Poland halt enforcement of the law and reinstate and judges previously removed due to the law as an interim measure. As noted in the press release [4], this interim measure will remain in effect until the CJEU decides on the case concerning this matter.