Poland’s constitutional court descended into turmoil Friday evening as judges barred from hearing cases moved to oust the institution’s nationalist-linked leadership, sparking accusations of a coup and tense protests.
Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, a judge with the court, ordered its president Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy to be suspended for a month and announced she was taking charge. Święczkowski rejected her authority, accusing those involved of a “coup d’état,” while his deputy was turned away at the building’s gates.
The showdown marks an escalation in Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s struggle to undo the judicial overhaul carried out by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) former government. During its eight years in power, PiS filled the Constitutional Tribunal with its appointees, including Święczkowski and his deputy, placing it at the heart of Poland’s confrontation with Brussels over the rule of law.
Outside the tribunal, protesters clashed with police, who said objects had been thrown at officers and three people detained after climbing over the court’s fence. Police said they had deployed to maintain security following warnings of threats to judges and staff, but had not entered the building.
PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński took part in the protest and tried to force his way into the court building. He accused Tusk of staging a “coup” against the court and turning Poland into a “police state,” and demanded presidential intervention.
President Karol Nawrocki, a PiS ally and rival of Tusk, interrupted his official trip to Senegal, declaring, “At a moment like this, the president must be in Poland.”
Tusk was defiant. “Restoring the rule of law is our duty,” he wrote on X. “After years of PiS lawlessness, it’s a difficult, sometimes painful process that requires decisive action. There is no other way.”
The tribunal, which can strike down legislation, helped impose a near-total abortion ban under PiS and challenged the supremacy of EU law. Last December, the EU’s top court ruled that it failed to meet European standards of judicial independence.
But efforts to change the court’s makeup have met resistance. Nawrocki refused to swear in five judges elected by Tusk’s parliamentary majority. They took their oaths in parliament instead, but Święczkowski barred them from hearing cases.
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek blamed the turmoil on Święczkowski, who he accused of turning the institution into his “private fiefdom” and preventing newly elected judges from doing their jobs.
“And now the judges have spoken,” Żurek told POLITICO.
Żurek, who also serves as Poland’s prosecutor general, said he submitted five requests to lift the immunity of Święczkowski and his deputy, backed by 50 volumes of case files. He defended Korwin-Piotrowska’s move as a decision by a legally appointed judge, insisting that the government had nothing to do with it.