ABSTRACT
The chapter offers a birds-eye view on the aims, strategies, and effects of the illiberals’ actions against the independence of the judiciary. The first part of the chapter focuses on illiberal strategies and disciplinary practices against judges. The reforms have not followed any particular higher set of coherent constitutional values. The reforms aimed mainly at keeping the illiberals in power; they were not guided by institutional concerns and were about the judicial personnel (newly appointed judges, recently nominated clerks, and courts’ personnel) and about disciplining them. The second part of the chapter is a case study on Poland, describing how the illiberal courts follow the political rhetoric and support the illiberals and their reforms.
