Poland's constitutional court chief suspended as police guard tribunal and president flies home

Poland's long fight over its top court turned into an open confrontation on Friday night. A group of judges elected by the current parliament moved to suspend the president of the Constitutional Tribunal, Bogdan Święczkowski, and his deputy, and police took up positions around the court building in Warsaw as opposition supporters gathered outside.

President Karol Nawrocki, who is backed by the opposition Law and Justice party (PiS), turned his plane around on the way to Senegal. Prime Minister Donald Tusk defended the move as part of restoring the rule of law, while the tribunal's official account on X said those involved were committing a coup d'état. By early Saturday it was not clear who was in charge of the court.

What happened

On Friday evening, 30 October, the tribunal's website published a short notice that a "break in the activities" of Święczkowski and deputy chief justice Bartłomiej Sochański had been ordered, according to Notes from Poland. The notice did not say who had ordered it. It cited article 130 of the law on common courts, which allows a court president or the justice minister to remove a judge from duty at once if the judge is caught committing an offence.

Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, one of the judges elected by parliament this year, told the public broadcaster TVP Info that she had issued the order. She said Święczkowski had blocked judges from taking up their posts and had overseen irregularities in how cases were assigned, Notes from Poland reported. She described herself as the court's longest-serving judge and said she was one of seven judges inside the building that evening.

The tribunal's spokeswoman, Weronika Ścibor, told the Kanał Zero channel that the seven had been escorted in by the State Protection Service through a gate from the prime minister's chancellery, and that Sochański was not allowed onto the grounds.

Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek, who is also the prosecutor general, told reporters he had asked for the immunity of Święczkowski and Sochański to be lifted for preventing judges from doing their work, according to AFP and Al Jazeera.

Outside, dozens of police guarded the entrance as PiS supporters chanted "Tusk traitor", some praying with rosaries, AFP reported. Police said they entered the tribunal's premises after objects were thrown at officers, and Al Jazeera, citing police, reported that three people were detained. Notes from Poland reported that supporters cut through a fence and that Święczkowski got onto the grounds before being stopped by a police cordon. No outlet has given a figure for the size of the crowd.

Background

The dispute goes back to 2015, when the PiS government, in power until 2023, changed the way the tribunal worked and filled it with its own appointees. The European Union accused the court of being too close to the government, and the tribunal ruled on several occasions that Polish law took precedence over EU law, AFP noted.

Tusk's coalition, which came to power after the 2023 election, has refused to recognise the tribunal's legitimacy because, it says, three judges were unlawfully appointed under PiS, and it has ignored the court's rulings. Two attempts to reform the court were vetoed by PiS-aligned presidents, one of them Nawrocki, according to Al Jazeera.

From March 2026 the coalition began filling vacancies on the 15-member bench. Parliament has chosen eight new judges this year, which in theory gives its nominees a majority, according to Notes from Poland. Polish law requires new judges to take their oath before the president. Nawrocki, elected in 2025, refused to swear in five of the eight, citing the way they were chosen or their qualifications; Korwin-Piotrowska is one of them. The five took their oaths in parliament instead, but Święczkowski, a former official in the PiS government, refused to let them take up their seats, Notes from Poland reported, despite an order from the European Court of Human Rights that he said the Strasbourg court had no power to issue.

PiS supporters had camped outside the tribunal for weeks to stop the new judges being installed by force.

What they are saying

"Restoring the rule of law is our duty." Donald Tusk, on X

Tusk wrote that after years of what he called lawlessness under PiS, the process was difficult and sometimes painful and required decisive action, adding that there was "no other way".

Nawrocki wrote on X that at such a moment the president "must be in Poland" and that he was cutting his flight short. Flight trackers showed the plane turning back in mid-air, Euronews reported. Outlets differ on the purpose of the trip: AFP called it an official visit, while Al Jazeera said he was on his way to a sporting event.

PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński said outside the court that Poland had become "a police state", Notes from Poland reported. Former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro called the move "a blatant, criminal attack on the constitutional order", according to Al Jazeera. The tribunal's X account said Święczkowski remained its president, that its website had been taken over unlawfully and that Korwin-Piotrowska was not a judge of the tribunal.

The head of the separate Supreme Court, Zbigniew Kapiński, told Kanał Zero he was appalled and called it a coup, Notes from Poland reported.

Legal scholars are also divided on the mechanism. Marcin Matczak, a constitutional law professor and a critic of Święczkowski, wrote that the legal basis cited for the suspension did not exist, arguing that the justice minister has no oversight over the tribunal.

What happens next

It is unclear who now runs the court. Al Jazeera reported that Korwin-Piotrowska had been placed in charge, while the tribunal's X account, quoted by AFP, said she could not act as interim chief because she has not been sworn in by the president. Żurek's requests to lift the two judges' immunity are pending. No reaction from the European Commission had been reported by early Saturday.

Nawrocki's return sets up a direct clash between the president and the government over who controls the court, with Kaczyński having urged him to come back and defend it. Several outlets say the situation is still developing, and we will update this story.

Key numbers

15: judges on the Constitutional Tribunal

8: judges elected by parliament in 2026

5: of those whom President Nawrocki has refused to swear in

3: people detained outside the court, according to police cited by Al Jazeera