Poland woke up to a constitutional cage match. By Friday night in Warsaw, the country's top court had two people claiming to run it, riot police on its grounds, and a president flying home in a hurry.
What happened
Around 6 p.m. Warsaw time Friday, a notice went up on the Constitutional Tribunal's website, according to Rzeczpospolita. It said the court's president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and vice president, Bartłomiej Sochański, had been suspended from their duties for up to a month.
The order came from Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, who took charge of the court as its longest-serving judge, Rzeczpospolita and Polityka reported. Polityka reported that Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek said prosecutors had sent the tribunal requests that day to strip both men of their immunity.
Here's the catch. Korwin-Piotrowska is one of the judges picked by the current parliament whom President Karol Nawrocki has refused to swear in, according to Polityka. She took her oath in parliament without him. Polityka reported that an opinion from the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe's legal advisory body, says that oath is valid.
Police on the grounds
At the same time, Warsaw police moved onto the tribunal's premises. In a statement reported by Rzeczpospolita, police said they acted on information from Korwin-Piotrowska about "potential threats to the life or health" of judges and staff and a "risk of disturbances to public order."
Reuters reported that police cited incidents outside the court, including dangerous objects being thrown at officers. Police said they did not go inside the court building itself, and that their actions "do not constitute interference" in the tribunal's work, according to Rzeczpospolita.
Sochański tells it differently. He told Rzeczpospolita he was stuck outside a gate locked from the inside, with police in shields, helmets and masks on the grounds. "A coup d'état is happening," he said.
Pro-PiS broadcaster TV Republika streamed live from outside the tribunal Friday evening, showing rows of riot police in white helmets lined up on the grounds. The station's on-screen captions say police went inside, a claim the police deny.
https://twitter.com/RepublikaTV/status/2116211161620508911
"Coup" vs. "rule of law"
The tribunal's official X account, still controlled by Święczkowski's side, called it an "unlawful takeover" of the court's website. The post insisted Święczkowski is still president and said everyone involved is "committing the crime of a coup d'état," according to Rzeczpospolita and Euronews.
Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jarosław Kaczyński called it an "attack on the Constitutional Tribunal," Euronews reported. He accused services under Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government of trying to force their way in.
The president U-turns
Nawrocki was in the air on his way to Senegal when the news broke. "At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland. I am cutting short my flight to Senegal. I am returning," he posted on X, per Reuters. TVP Info reported he ordered the plane back while over Spain, and Rzeczpospolita reported it became the most-watched flight on Flightradar24.
Midnight at the tribunal
Back in Warsaw, Nawrocki met with Święczkowski and Zbigniew Kapiński, the First President of the Supreme Court, TVP Info reported. Then, a little after midnight, he headed to the tribunal with Kapiński and his security detail. TVP Info reported the group got past the police cordon by going over a low wall, and there was pushing and shoving with judges at the door before he got inside.
Video recorded in a hallway captured the face-off, according to TVP Info and Anadolu. "We are judges of the Constitutional Tribunal," Korwin-Piotrowska told him. "You are not judges of the Constitutional Tribunal," Nawrocki replied.
Polish broadcaster TVN24 caught his arrival:
https://twitter.com/tvn24/status/2116327539660489033
Anadolu reported Nawrocki stayed inside until shortly before 5 a.m. He said he had made it possible for Sochański, whom he recognizes as the court's lawful vice president, to enter the building.
"A forcible takeover"
Early Saturday, Nawrocki's chief of staff, Paweł Szefernaker, read the president's statement outside the court. "Tonight, there has been a breach of the constitutional order of the Republic of Poland and a forcible takeover of a constitutional organ of the state," it said, according to Euronews. He called for "the forces of coercion sent there by the government" to leave the tribunal's grounds.
https://twitter.com/tvn24/status/2116385221469741472
Citing "the threat to internal security," Nawrocki called emergency talks with parliamentary parties at the presidential palace on Saturday, AFP reported. Euronews reported that he and Kapiński said they don't recognize the people now claiming authority at the court.
The other side
The government isn't backing down. "Restoring the rule of law is our duty," Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X, according to AFP. "After years of PiS-led lawlessness, this is a difficult process, sometimes painful, and it requires decisive action. There is no other way."
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek told reporters the court "has become private property," AFP reported. Anadolu reported he criticized Nawrocki's conduct inside the building and called for prosecutors to look into it. Judge Maciej Berek wrote that the judges were physically attacked by the president, according to TVP Info.
Outside, AP reported hundreds of protesters rallied overnight against the suspension. Police said they detained three people after objects were thrown and some tried to break through the fence. US Ambassador Tom Rose urged all sides on X not to take "any action that could provoke violence or further escalation," AFP reported.
https://twitter.com/euronews/status/2116491893290733917
Sippin's take: The president has a point
Whatever you think of the old tribunal, this is no way to fix it. A judge whose own seat the president has never recognized suspended the court's leadership. The website changed hands, and per the tribunal's spokesperson, quoted by Euronews, guards were told to pack up and leave while staff were away. Riot police then ringed the building on a Friday night. If the shoe were on the other foot, plenty of people now cheering would be calling it exactly what Nawrocki called it.
The president didn't send in police. He got off a plane, walked in and said no. Then he called the parties to the table. That's the right instinct. Poland's court mess dates back to 2015, Reuters notes, and both sides have stacked the deck. Settling it by who controls the doors at midnight leaves every future government a playbook nobody should want.
To be clear about what we know: nobody has "saved" anything yet. The government calls this a rule-of-law repair, and the standoff isn't over. But on the question of how you change a constitutional court, the president is on the right side of it.
How we got here
Reuters reported that a long-running political fight over the tribunal has "effectively paralysed" it. Nawrocki, an ally of the previous PiS government, refused this year to swear in three of six judges nominated by parliament. Meanwhile, Święczkowski wouldn't let judges elected by the current majority take their seats.
What's next
Polityka reported that the suspension lasts 30 days, after which the tribunal's general assembly of judges, to be convened by Korwin-Piotrowska, would have to decide the two men's fate. Polityka expects Święczkowski's camp to boycott that, and Nawrocki and PiS to back him. Nawrocki's emergency talks were set for Saturday afternoon in Warsaw, AFP reported. This story is moving fast, and we'll update it as it develops.
Photo: Constitutional Tribunal, Warsaw. Adrian Grycuk via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 PL
