PROCES LEGITYMIZACJI TRYBUNAŁU KONSTYTUCYJNEGO: PODEJŚCIE RELACYJNE

The aim of this article is to demonstrate the process of the legitimization of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal. In contrast to the dominant legal perspective, we consider the Tribunal relationally, as a kind of social space, located at the intersection of several social worlds that influence it (law, science, politics, and administration). The study concerns the biographies of all the judges elected from 1985 to 2018. Judges are treated as holders of various types of resources-capital (academic title, legal profession, government function, parliamentary mandate, etc.). The study, conducted by means of multiple correspondence analysis, allowed us to reconstruct the Constitutional Tribunal’s space. As a consequence, we have revealed not only the complexity and multidimensionality of the legitimacy of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, but also captured its dynamic.