(Re)building trust to Polish Constitutional Tribunal through social rights adjudication

Poland is facing rule of law crisis. The crisis had started when the government took control over the Polish Constitutional Tribunal [CT]. Since this hostile takeover took place, public trust in the CT is falling dramatically. Interestingly, the CT did not enjoy a high degree of public trust either. Some public commentators argue that among many reasons of low trust, before crisis started, was the CT far-reaching restraint in the area of social rights. But was the CT role in protecting social rights really limited? In paper I will try to answer this question by discussing some recent judgments (delivered before the constitutional crisis started), by which CT referred to the global trend of emerging social rights jurisprudence. In my paper, I’m putting also thesis, based on jurisprudence of other constitutional courts, that the judicial activism in the area of the social rights may constitute a pattern of rebuilding trust to CT after the end of the constitutional crisis.