On November 17, 2022, in the case numbered III PZP 2/21, the Supreme Court adopted a resolution, according to which a court recognizing a case may independently disregard a provision of a law that it deems inconsistent with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and not apply it, if the provision of Article 59(1) of the Law on the Organization and Procedure before the Constitutional Court stands in the way of a request to the Constitutional Court under Article 193 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. This is particularly the case when there is a need to apply to a given state of facts a provision that has already expired.
The resolution should be assessed as entirely accurate, and at the same time it must lead to reflection on the legitimacy, as well as the constitutionality, of the regulation contained in Article 59(1) of the Law on the Organization and Procedure before the Constitutional Court in its current form. After all, the application by the courts of regulations that were not in force on the date of adjudication is, on the basis of intertemporal regulations commonly created by the legislator, an everyday phenomenon. Consequently, the mere loss of validity of the challenged provision should in no way exclude the possibility of its evaluation by the Constitutional Court. This is because such only constitutes a significant limitation of the competence of the Constitutional Tribunal arising directly from the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, and of fundamental importance for the rights and obligations of citizens of the Republic of Poland.