The standoff exposes a difficult question for the government: how to restore the Tribunal's independence without creating new doubts about the legality of its own actions.
Poland's long-running argument over judicial independence has moved from the courtroom to the street. According to the Times of India, Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska announced on Friday the one-month suspension of Constitutional Tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański, and said she would take charge of the institution. The move followed a dispute over the appointment of new judges, whom Święczkowski had refused to allow to take their seats. Police were deployed outside the court as hundreds of protesters gathered, and officers reported three arrests after people tried to enter the court complex.
President Karol Nawrocki, an ally of the nationalist Law and Justice party and a vocal supporter of US President Donald Trump, abandoned a visit to Senegal and returned to Warsaw. He described the suspension as a "forcible takeover of a constitutional institution". PiS leaders accused Tusk's government of attempting a coup. Tusk defended the action, saying his government was seeking to restore the rule of law after years of political interference in the judiciary under PiS, which governed for eight years until 2023. "This process is difficult, at times even painful, and requires decisive action. There is no other way," he said in a post on X on Saturday.
The dispute has deep roots. The Tribunal rules on whether legislation complies with the constitution, giving control over its composition significant political and legal consequences. The current quarrel traces back to 2015, when PiS challenged judicial appointments made by the outgoing government; the Tribunal found that only three of five appointments had a valid legal basis, PiS appointed replacements including for seats already lawfully filled, and then-president Andrzej Duda refused to swear in the three validly elected judges. In 2021 the European Commission warned of a "systemic risk to the rule of law" and froze EU funding, and the European Court of Human Rights ruled that an improperly appointed judge had deprived a company of its right to a tribunal established by law. In December 2025, the EU's top court ruled that the Tribunal did not meet the requirements of an independent court.
Tusk returned to office in December 2023 promising to restore judicial independence, but the continued presence of PiS-appointed judges and Nawrocki's role in appointments have complicated that effort. This year parliament elected eight judges to the Tribunal's 15-member bench; Nawrocki administered the oath to three but withheld it from five others, who took their oaths without him, and Święczkowski then refused to let the five begin work. The latest confrontation followed the appointment of Maciej Berek, a former minister in Tusk's cabinet, who was prevented from taking his seat last week. The choice has drawn criticism from within the governing camp, and legal experts have questioned Korwin-Piotrowska's authority to suspend the president and deputy, her claim resting on length of service as a judge overall rather than seniority within the Tribunal.
The standoff exposes a difficult question for the government: how to restore the Tribunal's independence without creating new doubts about the legality of its own actions. Marcin Matczak, a Polish lawyer, told Al Jazeera that PiS was seeking to retain control of its remaining institutional stronghold while the government wanted to restore balance, and warned that the use of police in a dispute involving the court could set a precedent for future governments. The US ambassador to Poland, Tom Rose, urged all sides to avoid escalation. With parliamentary elections due next year, and with security concerns linked to Russia's war in neighbouring Ukraine sharpening the political divide, the Tribunal is likely to remain central to the debate over Poland's direction and its relationship with the European Union.
