Vote in the Sejm

On Thursday, 22 October 2026, the Sejm passed the so-called rule-of-law act, a flagship reform of Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek meant to settle the status of judges appointed after 2018. The vote was 231 in favour, 200 against and six abstentions. The bill now goes to the Senate, which is expected to work considerably faster than the Sejm, where the project had been stuck since December of last year. Along the way it went through a lengthy and heated public hearing. The Sejm rejected a motion by PiS and Rozwój Plus to throw the bill out and adopted 22 amendments proposed by the Civic Coalition (KO) club.

For231

Against200

Abstained6

For

231 votes

Against

200 votes

Abstained

6 votes

Data from the article text

Three categories of judges

The bill targets so-called neo-judges, whose status is contested because the former National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) took part in their appointment procedures. Under the act, KRS resolutions from the two previous terms that contain requests to appoint judges would lose legal force, covering resolutions adopted from March 2018 to May 2026. Positions filled on that basis would become vacant on the day the law takes effect, and the appointment procedures would be run again before the current council. Judges would then be sorted into three colour categories, and their future would depend on the group they fall into.

Young judges in the green category, a group of 1.1 thousand people, would have their status confirmed by resolutions of a future KRS and would become undisputed judges. Judges in the yellow category were promoted after an evaluation by the current KRS. They would return to their previously held posts, keep their present functions on secondment for two years and then, unless they resign, take part in new competitions. Former judges in the red category practised another legal profession before being appointed under the current KRS. They would lose judge status and could return to their former professions or stay at their court as referendaries.

Judgments issued so far by these judges would, in principle, remain in force. The bill would, however, allow parties who consistently challenged the legality of the panel to seek to overturn such rulings.

Presidential veto in doubt

The opposition, PiS and Rozwój Plus among them, hopes President Karol Nawrocki will use his veto to stop the law from taking effect. Zbigniew Bogucki, head of the Chancellery of the President, had said earlier that the bill in the form presented at the time would not receive the president's signature. He accused the authors of trying to stigmatise part of the judicial community and said the proposals could affect close to 3,500 judges appointed with KRS participation after 2017. He put the core of his position plainly:

“There is no chance that such a law, if parliament adopted it in this form, would receive the president's signature.”

The bill now moves to the Senate, the next step before any signature or veto decision. The reform divides both politicians and the judicial community, according to the articles.