Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal in Turmoil After Chief Judge Suspended

Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal entered a new phase of institutional conflict on Friday when Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska ordered the suspension of the tribunal’s president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and his deputy for one month and announced she was taking charge. Święczkowski, an appointee of the previous Law and Justice government, rejected her authority and called the move a coup d’état. His deputy was turned away at the building gates. Riot police were deployed and protesters gathered outside the court in central Warsaw.

President Karol Nawrocki, a PiS ally, interrupted an official trip to Senegal and flew back to Warsaw. He appeared outside the court early on Saturday, made his way through the police cordon and entered the building. Video showed him tussling with security and other judges. Nawrocki stated that a breach of public order and a forcible takeover of a constitutional body had occurred. Prime Minister Donald Tusk responded that restoring the rule of law is the government’s duty after years of PiS lawlessness and that the process requires decisive action. Tusk said the tribunal would function according to the law and independently of him.

The dispute is the latest chapter in a decade-long confrontation over the tribunal’s legitimacy. During its eight years in power PiS filled the court with its appointees, including Święczkowski. The European Commission and successive EU institutions treated the resulting body as compromised. Tusk’s government, in office since late 2023, has sought to reverse those changes but has been blocked by opposition-aligned presidents who have used vetoes and refused to swear in judges elected by the current parliament. Nawrocki won the presidential election last year against Tusk’s candidate and has continued that stance.

Police detained three people after some protesters breached the tribunal’s fence and others threw objects. Several hundred people remained outside demanding Święczkowski’s reinstatement. The longest-serving judge’s decision to suspend the leadership rests on an internal reading of the court’s rules; the suspended officials and the president reject that reading. The result is two competing claims to control of the same institution. Cases before the tribunal are already delayed by the broader legitimacy dispute. The weekend events add a physical standoff to the legal one.

Tusk’s government has argued that only a full reset of the tribunal can restore its authority under the constitution and satisfy EU requirements on the rule of law. PiS and Nawrocki treat any attempt to remove the current leadership as an illegal assault on an independent court. The immediate practical question is who controls the building, the seals and the docket on Monday morning. Longer-term, the episode shows that the judicial overhaul of the PiS years continues to generate institutional conflict even after a change of government and a change of president.