"An unlawful takeover": Poland's Tribunal Says Its President Is Still in Charge

The head of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal was prevented from entering its grounds on October 30 as rival judges sought to remove him from office.

Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska said she had suspended Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski. The Tribunal's account on X rejected her authority, called the move an "unlawful takeover" and said Święczkowski remained president. Its spokeswoman said seven people elected as judges this year had entered the building with officers from the State Protection Service. ^[1]

The confrontation puts physical control of one of Poland's highest courts at the centre of a constitutional crisis. The Tribunal decides whether legislation complies with the constitution, so the dispute over who sits on it reaches well beyond the judges' offices.

Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek, who is also prosecutor general, said he had submitted motions to lift the immunity from prosecution of Święczkowski and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański. President Karol Nawrocki cut short his journey to Senegal and said he was returning to Poland. ^[1][2]

The rival legal claims remain unresolved. It is not established whether the suspensions are legally effective, what authority police relied on to bar the two leaders, or whether the seven judges who entered can perform judicial duties. ^[1]

Two claims to the same court

The confrontation on Friday evening exposed a split even between the Tribunal's public channels. Its website published a notice announcing a break in the official activities of Święczkowski and Sochański. The notice cited provisions allowing an immediate interruption of a judge's duties when caught committing an offence, but did not identify who had ordered the action. ^[1]

Korwin-Piotrowska told state broadcaster TVP that she had ordered Święczkowski's suspension. She accused him of preventing judges from taking office and overseeing irregularities in the assignment of cases. Those are her allegations, not findings established by the confrontation. ^[1]

The Tribunal's spokeswoman said Sochański had also been refused entry to the grounds. Inside, according to her account, were the seven newly elected judges who had arrived with State Protection Service officers. Outside was the man the Tribunal's X account continued to recognise as its president. ^[1]

One prominent legal critic of Święczkowski rejected the route taken against him. Constitutional law scholar Marcin Matczak said there was no legal basis for the suspension, even while describing Święczkowski as the worst person to have held the Tribunal presidency. ^[1]

That objection goes to the heart of the government's task. Restoring a court's authority requires a lawful basis for changing its leadership, including when the incumbent's opponents regard his conduct as intolerable. Police can determine who gets through a gate. They cannot settle the legal status of the people on either side.

A fight over five oaths

The immediate struggle grew out of a dispute over appointments to the 15-seat Tribunal. Parliament elected eight judges in 2026, but Nawrocki refused to swear in five of them. Those five took their oaths in parliament instead, and Święczkowski refused to accept them as Tribunal judges. ^[1][4]

The law requires newly elected Tribunal judges to take an oath before the president. It does not say what happens when the president refuses to administer that oath, according to rule-of-law expert Jakub Jaraczewski. That gap has become a practical barrier to filling the court. ^[3]

The Sejm, Poland's lower house of parliament, elected six judges on March 13. Tusk's governing coalition had previously refused to fill vacancies before beginning appointments this year. ^[3][4]

By October 14, Maciej Berek had become the fifth judge to take an oath without presidential approval. The previous four had already been denied entry to the Tribunal. The dispute was therefore about access to the building before riot police appeared at its perimeter. ^[4]

The European Court of Human Rights issued an interim measure directing Polish authorities not to obstruct the judges elected in March from taking up and exercising their duties. Święczkowski argued that the European court lacked authority to issue that order. ^[1][4]

The president turns back

The crisis has older roots. European courts ruled that three judges appointed under the previous government led by Law and Justice, known as PiS, were improperly elected. The European Court of Human Rights and the European Union's Court of Justice also found that the Tribunal was no longer an independent and impartial court, according to the BBC. ^[2]

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said restoring the rule of law was his government's duty and required decisive action. PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński called Poland a police state and urged Nawrocki to return from Senegal. ^[1]

Nawrocki then said he was returning, with the BBC reporting that he had ordered his aircraft to turn back. His intervention brings the presidency directly into the response to a confrontation rooted partly in his own refusal to administer the judicial oaths. ^[1][2][4]

Żurek's immunity motions open a further front: proposed criminal proceedings against the two men whose leadership is being challenged. The next institutional test is whether the Tribunal considers those motions, and under whose authority it does so. ^[1][2]