Nawrocki Clashes With 5 Judges at Poland's Top Court as Tribunal Power Struggle Deepens
Updated
Updated · Notes From Poland · Oct 31
Nawrocki Clashes With 5 Judges at Poland's Top Court as Tribunal Power Struggle Deepens
3 articles · Updated · Notes From Poland · Oct 31
Summary
Videos from Warsaw showed President Karol Nawrocki pushing past judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska and later shouting that government-backed appointees "are not Constitutional Tribunal judges" during an overnight confrontation at the court.
The clash erupted after judges chosen by parliament this year entered the 15-member tribunal, suspended chief justice Bogdan Święczkowski and declared Korwin-Piotrowska acting head, despite Nawrocki refusing to swear in five of the new judges.
Riot police ringed the building as anti-government protesters and opposition politicians denounced a "coup d'état"; Święczkowski was blocked from entering after supporters cut through a fence.
Nawrocki, who turned his plane back from a Senegal trip, called the events a forceful takeover and scheduled Saturday talks with party leaders, though Tusk's coalition is split on attending and The Left refused.
The standoff caps a rule-of-law battle dating to 2023, when Tusk's government stopped recognizing the tribunal because three judges had been unlawfully appointed under the previous PiS government.
Did President Nawrocki stop an unlawful court takeover, or deepen Poland’s constitutional crisis by turning a legal dispute into a physical confrontation?
With judges, police, protesters, and European rulings colliding, is Poland heading toward a dual constitutional court or a negotiated reset?