Juristocracy Rainbow-Tested. The Case of Poland

In this essay we apply Hirschl’s test on juristocracy to the Polish courts dealing with cases con- cerning LGBTQ+ rights. Furthermore, a brief overview of the landmark judgments in simi- lar cases rendered by selected national (Israel Supreme Court, German Constitutional Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court) and pan-national (chiefly European Court of Human Rights, also Court of Justice of the European Union) courts is offered. All these judicial developments post- date publication of Towards Juristocracy and prove Hirschl right. This part of the chapter is followed by a sketch of the legal panorama of the present-day Poland, against which the legal standing of the LGBTQ+ community is discussed. Finally, the most significant rulings of the Polish courts are analysed in order to appraise the validity Hirschl’s hypotheses. In conclusion, we at- tempt to explain the recent shift in the paradigm (the Polish courts have gradually departed from the initial reluctance to protect LGBTQ+ rights). We claim this change is owed to the assault on the Polish judiciary carried out by the parliamentary majority: in a way it has put the judges into the situation of an oppressed minority.