Poland is facing a fresh constitutional crisis as President Karol Nawrocki and Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government find themselves locked in an increasingly bitter confrontation over the country's judiciary. The latest escalation has seen the president cut short his trip to Senegal and return to Warsaw, the suspension of two senior Constitutional Tribunal officials, protests outside the court and the deployment of Riot police.
The immediate trigger was a decision by Constitutional Tribunal judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska to suspend the court's president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and vice-president, Bartłomiej Sochański, from their official duties for one month. Korwin-Piotrowska, the tribunal's longest-serving judge, said she was taking charge of the institution during their suspension.
The move came amid allegations that the tribunal's leadership had been preventing judges elected by the current parliamentary majority from taking up their positions and participating in court proceedings.
Poland's Justice Minister and Prosecutor General, Waldemar Żurek, also announced that he had submitted five applications seeking to lift the judicial immunity of the two senior officials. Four applications concern Święczkowski, while the fifth concerns Sochański. The requests seek permission to pursue criminal liability over alleged misconduct and obstruction of the work of the tribunal. However, these are applications for immunity to be lifted, not convictions or completed criminal proceedings.
The tribunal's existing leadership has strongly rejected the suspension. In a statement published on its social media account, it maintained that Święczkowski remained its president and Sochański its vice-president, while disputing Korwin-Piotrowska's status as a legitimate tribunal judge.
The statement also accused those involved in the proceedings of committing a crime, describing their actions as a "coup d'état". The competing claims have further complicated the question of who has legitimate authority over the institution.
WATCH: Right-wing Polish President Karol Nawrocki shoves a judge aside as he forces his way into the Constitutional Tribunal. https://t.co/RgJq7MRYJ3
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) October 31, 2026
Why are Poland's president and prime minister fighting?
To understand the current confrontation, it is necessary to go back to 2015, when Poland's Law and Justice party (PiS), a nationalist and socially conservative political party, came to power.
During the transition of power that year, a dispute erupted over appointments to the Constitutional Tribunal. The outgoing parliament had elected five judges, but the incoming PiS-controlled parliament challenged those appointments and selected five replacements. The Constitutional Tribunal subsequently ruled that three of the outgoing parliament's appointments had been valid, while two were not.
The controversy became the starting point of a much wider conflict over the independence of Poland's judiciary. The PiS government introduced several judicial reforms that critics argued gave politicians excessive influence over the courts and weakened judicial independence.
The European Union and European courts repeatedly questioned aspects of these reforms, leading to legal proceedings, financial penalties and disputes over EU funding.
In 2023, Donald Tusk and his pro-European coalition came to power, promising to restore judicial independence and reverse controversial changes introduced under the previous PiS administration.
However, the process has proved far more difficult than expected. President Nawrocki, who is politically aligned with PiS, has resisted several of the government's judicial appointments and refused to receive the oaths of judges elected by the current parliament.
The latest confrontation centres on the tribunal's leadership. Święczkowski, who previously served as a deputy justice minister under the PiS government, has refused to recognise several judges elected by the current parliamentary majority. The government argues that these judges were lawfully selected and should be allowed to perform their constitutional duties.
Nawrocki, meanwhile, has backed the existing tribunal leadership and disputes the legitimacy of the newly elected judges. This has effectively left the institution caught between two competing claims of authority.
President returns from Senegal as tensions spill onto the streets
The situation escalated dramatically on Friday, Oct 30, when Nawrocki was travelling to Senegal for an official visit. After learning about the developments at the Constitutional Tribunal, he decided to turn his plane around and return to Poland.
"In such a moment, the President must be in Poland. I am interrupting my flight to Senegal. I am returning," Nawrocki wrote on social media.
After returning to Warsaw, the president visited the Constitutional Tribunal during the early hours of Saturday. Videos from inside the building showed a heated exchange between him and Korwin-Piotrowska, along with other judges elected by the current parliament.
When Korwin-Piotrowska asserted that they were judges of the Constitutional Tribunal, Nawrocki responded, "You are not judges of the Constitutional Tribunal."
Footage also showed the president pushing his way through people gathered near the entrance. Members of the opposing sides subsequently accused each other of physical aggression. The incident has added another layer of controversy to the already tense political situation.
Meanwhile, hundreds of supporters of the opposition Law and Justice party gathered outside the tribunal in Warsaw to protest against the suspension of its leadership. Police were deployed to secure the premises after tensions escalated, with demonstrators reportedly attempting to breach the perimeter fence and throwing objects at officers.
Authorities confirmed that three people had been detained following the incidents.
The opposition has described the government's actions as an attack on the constitutional order, accusing Tusk of concentrating power and pushing Poland towards authoritarian rule. PiS politicians have also used the language of a coup to describe the suspension of the tribunal's leadership.
Tusk, however, has defended his government's actions, arguing that restoring the rule of law after years of controversial judicial reforms requires decisive measures.
The confrontation has now moved beyond a disagreement over judicial appointments. With the president, government, judges and opposition all disputing the legitimacy of one another's actions, Poland faces a serious institutional standoff and power grab
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