Tusk-Nawrocki
battle escalates as chief judge is ousted from Poland’s top court
A bid to
remove the court’s nationalist-linked leadership sparked accusations of a coup
and clashes between protesters and police in Warsaw.
President
of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal Bogdan Święczkowski in Warsaw, on Oct. 30,
2026. | Radek Pietruszka/EPA
October
30, 2026 10:12 pm CET
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.
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