ABSTRACT
Modern constitutional theory places Constitutional Tribunals at the centre of constitutional democracy. While the appointment of judges to Constitutional Tribunals and Supreme Courts is usually described as almost inevitably a political affair', in the transition countries it was denounced as thoroughly political' by Sadurski. Yet another important role of Constitutional Tribunals is to develop an authoritative interpretation of constitutional provisions, which would amount to a consistent doctrine based on CT jurisdiction, and which would serve as a guiding paradigm for ordinary courts. The record of the Polish CT in protecting constitutional and democratic settlement can be only weakly related to the two first principles of constitutional theory: first, the defence of the constitution since the Constitution of 1997 is product of the political and Church elite and not a popular projects; and then, the containment of the democratic majority since the MPs represent mainly political interests of their parties and not their constituencies.
