Who's Right in the Battle Over Polish Courts

The Polish ruling party's relentless fight for control of the courts is evidence that a properly functioning judiciary is the toughest element of democracy to get right.

On Sunday, tens of thousands assembled in front of court buildings, starting with the Supreme Court in Warsaw, in support of judiciary independence and against a court reform the governing Law and Justice Party (PiS) is pushing through parliament. For the opposition, the reform means that Poland "will cease not only to be a liberal democracy but a democracy at all." The judicial community is dead set against the PiS proposals, and the European Commission is already at odds with the government over its treatment of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal. But the case isn't clear-cut, and it raises the question of how a country with a history of deep-rooted corruption can obtain a competent, independent judiciary.