Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal Standoff Deepens

Riot police were deployed outside Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw as a dispute over the court’s leadership intensified between Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government and figures associated with the former Law and Justice (PiS) government. Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek has asked prosecutors to lift the immunity of Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski and Vice-President Bartłomiej Sochański so they can face criminal charges. The government accuses them of preventing five judges elected by parliament from taking part in the court’s work. The Tribunal says Święczkowski and Sochański remain its legally appointed senior judges and described the actions against them as a coup d’état. Tusk defended his government’s actions as necessary to restore the rule of law after years of PiS influence over the judiciary. The dispute has roots in changes made after PiS took office in 2015. The party appointed judges to secure a majority on the Tribunal, which can rule on whether legislation is constitutional. European courts later found that three appointments were improper and said the Tribunal no longer qualified as an independent and impartial court. Tusk’s government has relied on those judgments, but has struggled to reverse the changes. Presidents Andrzej Duda and Karol Nawrocki have used or threatened vetoes, and Nawrocki has declined to swear in five judges elected since March. The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission has urged him to swear them in. Nawrocki, a PiS-backed president, cut short a trip to Senegal and went to the Tribunal as supporters protested outside. The government’s move has drawn criticism even from opponents of the PiS-era reforms. Lawyer Marcin Matczak argued that Święczkowski’s suspension had no legal basis and warned that the deployment of armed police could damage the rule of law for years. With parliamentary elections due next year, some observers also see Tusk’s actions as an effort to appeal to voters, while critics among his own supporters say he has previously failed to act decisively.

Protesters gathered outside Poland’s Constitutional Court on Friday night after a statement posted on the court’s website said its president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and his deputy had been suspended for a month. Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska is to lead the institution during that period. Police said they went to the court after a judge reported possible threats to the safety of judges and staff, and dozens of riot police were deployed as supporters of the right-wing Law and Justice Party (PiS) protested the decision. The court’s official X account described the move as a “coup d'etat,” while some demonstrators chanted “Tusk traitor.” Prime Minister Donald Tusk supported the suspension, framing it as part of his government’s effort to restore the rule of law after PiS’s controversial judicial reforms. Swieczkowski is among judges appointed during PiS’s period in government, from 2015 to 2023. Tusk’s center-left governing alliance had promised to reverse those reforms after taking office following the 2023 parliamentary election. He said the process was difficult and sometimes painful but that decisive action was necessary. President Karol Nawrocki, who has refused to swear in five judges nominated by parliament, canceled a planned trip to Senegal, saying he needed to remain in Poland. His chief of staff said Nawrocki later entered the Constitutional Court building through a police barricade, accompanied by Supreme Court First President Zbigniew Kapinski. The dispute reflects a wider confrontation over the judiciary and the competing claims of Poland’s government, president, and court officials.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki cut short his flight to Senegal on Friday and returned to Poland after a judge suspended Constitutional Tribunal President Bogdan Swieczkowski, intensifying a prolonged conflict over the judiciary. The tribunal said its longest-serving judge, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, had suspended Swieczkowski and taken charge of the court. Nawrocki said on X that the president needed to be in Poland “at a moment like this.” Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the tribunal, where right-wing politicians accused Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government of staging a coup against the court. The dispute reflects a broader standoff between Tusk’s pro-European government and Nawrocki, a nationalist president allied with the Law and Justice Party. The government says it is trying to restore the rule of law, which the European Union had accused the previous Law and Justice administration of undermining. Tusk described the restoration effort as difficult and sometimes painful, but necessary. The conflict dates to 2015, when Law and Justice sought to appoint judges to seats that had already been filled by the preceding government. Its nominees later formed a majority on the Constitutional Tribunal. Critics in Poland and abroad argued that the court no longer met the standards of an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. After Tusk’s coalition took office in 2023, it pledged to reform the court, but Nawrocki has obstructed aspects of those efforts since becoming president in 2025. Earlier this year, Nawrocki declined to swear in three of six parliamentary nominees, while Swieczkowski refused to seat judges elected by the current parliamentary majority. Parliament’s appointment of Tusk ally Maciej Berek to the tribunal last month also drew criticism, with opponents saying it conflicted with the government’s stated aim of restoring checks and balances.

The report says Poland’s president cut short a visit to Senegal and joined protesters gathered outside Poland’s Constitutional Court. The protesters were facing off with police amid a dispute over government moves to remove the court’s president and vice-president. Those moves have prompted accusations that the government is carrying out a coup within the court, creating what the report describes as a constitutional crisis at the top court. The supplied article is a brief news video item, and it provides no further details about the president’s identity, the government’s rationale, the legal basis for the proposed removals, the size of the protest, or whether anyone was injured or detained. It also does not report the government’s or court officials’ responses, or what happened after the stand-off. Accordingly, the central development it reports is the president’s decision to join the protest, alongside the confrontation with police and the contested effort to remove two senior court officials. The report frames the dispute as a crisis involving the Constitutional Court and allegations of a coup, but does not establish those allegations as fact.