Poland’s Constitutional Court Gears Up for Crisis as President Nawrocki Enters Amid Judicial Suspension

Riot police clashed with protesters outside Poland’s constitutional court on Friday night after the court’s chief judge was suspended, marking the latest escalation in a decade‑long dispute over the tribunal’s legal standing.

The confrontation followed a controversial move by a group of government‑appointed judges who suspended the court’s contested president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański, citing disagreements over the bench’s legitimacy.

The right‑wing opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party denounced the action, with its leader Jarosław Kaczyński labeling it an “assault” on the judiciary.

The court has repeatedly upheld Polish statutes over EU law, drawing criticism from Brussels that the highest court is overly aligned with nationalist political forces.

Karol Nawrocki, the PiS‑backed conservative president and a known ally of Donald Trump, cut short a state visit to Senegal on Friday night, returning to Warsaw to intervene at the court.

Hundreds of demonstrators, including opposition MPs, gathered outside the building to support the suspended judges. Police arrested three individuals who attempted to breach the security cordon.

Shortly before 01:00 local time on Saturday, Nawrocki emerged at the court, pushing through the police line in a video that captured him grappling with security officers and other judges to gain entry. He remained inside the building as of 04:00 local time.

In an online clip, Nawrocki asserted that the appointees “were not judges of the constitutional court.”

At 05:00 local time, a statement read on his behalf outside the court condemned “a violation of Poland’s constitutional order,” declaring that “a constitutional body was seized by force.” He demanded that security forces withdraw from the premises.

The latest clash is expected to deepen political polarisation ahead of next year’s parliamentary election, where polls suggest the populist‑right could reclaim power.

The court’s current turmoil traces back to 2015, when the outgoing centrist government and the incoming right‑wing administration made rapid, legally dubious changes to stack the bench with their appointees.

These appointments paralysed the court, and subsequent attempts to undermine it continued throughout PiS’s eight‑year illiberal rule, marked by repeated conflicts with the EU over the rule of law.

Since returning to power in 2023, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has pledged to reverse controversial reforms and repair ties with Brussels, yet he has repeatedly been blocked by opposition‑aligned presidents who exercised veto powers and expansive interpretations of their authority.

A recent twist came when President Nawrocki, who unexpectedly defeated Tusk’s candidate in last year’s presidential election, refused to swear in five judges elected by the current parliamentary majority, further complicating the legal landscape.

Earlier this month, the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission—an advisory body on the rule of law—stated that the president’s refusal should not prevent the judges from assuming their positions.

On Friday night, a cohort of judges elected by the present parliamentary majority moved to suspend President Święczkowski, a former PiS minister, and seize procedural control of the court. Anna Korwin‑Piotrowska, one of the five judges rejected by Nawrocki, claimed she had assumed the top post, citing her longest tenure among the judiciary.

Legal experts remain sharply divided over the suspension’s legality. Marcin Matczak, a noted law scholar and PiS critic, said he “did not expect to defend” Święczkowski but argued the suspension lacked any legal basis.

Separately, Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek announced he would seek to strip Święczkowski and Deputy President Sochański of legal immunity, paving the way for prosecution on charges of obstructing the court’s functions.

Despite the backlash, Tusk maintained that “restoring the rule of law is our duty.” “After years of PiS’s lawlessness, this is a difficult and sometimes painful process that demands decisive action. There is no other way,” he declared.

Earlier this month, he vowed, “The court will begin its work in accordance with the constitution, whether people like it or not.”

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, speaking on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Atlanta, noted that “the constitutional tribunal was politicised under the previous government.” He added, “What is happening aims to let the majority of duly elected judges restore the tribunal’s functioning.”

Opposition leaders and the court’s official social media accounts accused the government of perpetrating a judicial “coup d’état.” Several European far‑right figures—including Britain’s Nigel Farage, Liz Truss, and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders—also condemned the move.

U.S. Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose posted on X: “The events unfolding tonight … are very serious. Both sides offer sharply different accounts of what happened and why. Whatever the facts ultimately establish, thousands gathering outside the tribunal make an already dangerous situation more combustible. The last thing Poland needs is a confrontation that spirals into something far worse.”

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