Poland Court Crisis: Tusk, Nawrocki and the Tribunal Fight
Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal Crisis: Police, a Suspended Chief Judge and a President Who Flew Back (Image video grab)
By TRH World Desk
Poland’s court showdown: who is the Constitutional Tribunal’s president, and who decides?
New Delhi, October 31, 2026 — A one-month suspension, a police cordon and a president who turned his plane around over Africa have put Poland’s old fight over its judiciary into a new phase.
On Friday evening, Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska told state broadcaster TVP she had suspended Tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski, and his deputy Bartłomiej Sochański followed. Notes from Poland, a Warsaw-based outlet, reported that she accused him of blocking judges from taking up their posts and of irregularities in assigning cases.
Police entered after her letter. Warsaw police said it pointed to a possible threat to judges and staff and a risk of public disorder, according to a report by Liga.net.
The Tribunal’s X account called it a coup. Notes from Poland reported that Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek filed motions to lift the two men’s immunity.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who visited India only last week, defended the move on X as restoring the rule of law, and the Justice Minister said the court had become private property.
Święczkowski and Sochański were appointed under former president Andrzej Duda from Law and Justice’s quota, and Święczkowski served in the former government. Korwin-Piotrowska was elected by the current majority in March 2026, but President Karol Nawrocki refused to swear her in.
Onet reported that Nawrocki, back in Warsaw, met Święczkowski and Supreme Court chief Zbigniew Kapiński at the palace. Early Saturday his chief of staff said he had entered the Tribunal building with Kapiński.
Polish Radio reported that Święczkowski said the gate was opened on his instructions after a protester cut a chain. Żurek’s five immunity requests, four for Święczkowski and one for Sochański, came with 50 volumes of case files. Three people were detained during protests.
The most striking voice comes from the government’s own side of the debate. Notes from Poland quoted law professor Marcin Matczak calling Święczkowski a poor choice for president, yet writing “I never thought I’d end up defending him.” He argued the legal basis for the suspension was non-existent. The case rests on a legal route that even critics of the target dispute.
The deeper problem
– Two Tribunals: Each side now claims the authentic leadership, with rival statements and a website taken over.
– A circular process: Immunity motions were delivered to the judge who then suspended the officials.
– Police in a court: Using officers in a constitutional dispute, which Kapiński criticised, hands the opposition its “coup” argument.
– The president: Nawrocki’s refusal to swear in judges created the deadlock the government is trying to break.
Tusk’s camp says it is ending a captured court. Its critics say the method is itself unlawful. Both can be partly right, and neither wins unless institutions accept a settlement.
(This is a developing story, and details may change.)
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