Nawrocki Pushes Past Police Cordon Into Poland's Constitutional Tribunal and Calls Emergency Talks

Since Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska announced the suspension of Constitutional Tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy Bartłomiej Sochański on Friday, Oct. 30, the fight over Poland's top court has moved from legal declarations to a physical standoff in Warsaw.

Riot police and a breached fence

Riot police held a perimeter around the Tribunal building on Friday night. Hundreds of protesters gathered, including opposition MPs. Some prayed and held rosaries. Others chanted against Tusk.

Police said three people were detained after some protesters breached the Tribunal's fence and others threw objects at officers. Supporters of Święczkowski also cut through the perimeter with a power tool, while officers kept him from entering.

Police said they were securing the grounds and had not entered the building. They said they deployed after receiving letters from the Prosecutor General and from Korwin-Piotrowska warning of threats to judges and staff. Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek also requested the deployment.

According to Tribunal spokesperson Weronika Ścibor, security guards were ordered to pack up and leave the building earlier in the day. She suggested the timing was deliberate and took advantage of staff absences. Seven people chosen by the Sejm to serve as Tribunal judges entered the building Friday.

Nawrocki goes in

Nawrocki turned his plane around en route to Senegal and met First President of the Supreme Court Zbigniew Kapiński at the presidential palace. The two then went to the Tribunal with aides.

Shortly before 1 a.m. Saturday, Nawrocki came through the police cordon. Video shows him scuffling with security and several judges, including Korwin-Piotrowska, as he forced his way inside. As of 4 a.m. local time he was still in the building.

In a clip posted online he said the government appointees "were not judges of the constitutional court." A statement released at 4:11 a.m. and read out around 5 a.m. by his chief of staff, Paweł Szefernaker, described "a violation of Poland's constitutional order" and said "a constitutional body was seized by force." It demanded that security forces leave the premises.

The president also called urgent consultations today with representatives of parliamentary parties "to stabilize the political situation."

Two accounts of the same scuffle

Government minister Maciej Berek gave his version: "To use the most delicate terms, the President forcefully bumped into Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska and began pushing his way through a group of other Judges."

Nawrocki's allies say the opposite. They accuse the judges they call usurpers of using force against the president and of undermining his constitutional authority to swear in justices. Audio from inside the building, which has circulated, reportedly captures Nawrocki telling Korwin-Piotrowska and two others that they are not judges. It also reportedly captures Zbigniew Bogucki, head of the president's chancellery, accusing her of staging a coup.

Each side's legal claim

The Tribunal's own X account rejects Korwin-Piotrowska's authority, insists Święczkowski remains in charge and calls the operation a "coup d'état." It said: "All persons participating in these actions are committing the crime of a coup d'état." PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński condemned what he called an "assault" on the court. MEP Arkadiusz Mularczyk wrote that "a coup d'état is underway in Poland."

Korwin-Piotrowska, a Sejm-chosen judge whom Nawrocki has refused to swear in, says she suspended Święczkowski for blocking newly selected judges from taking their seats and for overseeing irregularities in how cases are assigned. Tusk wrote on X: "Restoring the rule of law is our duty. After years of PiS-led lawlessness, this is a difficult process, sometimes painful, and it requires decisive action. There is no other way." He also warned that failure to resolve the dispute could mean opponents "will lead us out of the European Union."

Nawrocki says the people acting as the Tribunal's new leadership are not recognized as judges by the First President of the Supreme Court.

How it got here

The dispute dates to 2015. The outgoing parliament elected five judges, and the Tribunal later found only three of those appointments had a valid legal basis. The incoming PiS majority then elected replacements, including for the three seats already lawfully filled. President Andrzej Duda refused to swear in the three validly elected judges.

Tusk's government has also run into presidential vetoes. Two successive PiS-aligned presidents, Duda and now Nawrocki, have blocked its efforts. Nawrocki has refused to swear in three of six judges nominated by parliament earlier this year, according to Fox News.

The crisis is also feeding into next year's parliamentary election. The Guardian reports that polls show the populist right with a chance of returning to power.

What is unresolved

Two groups now claim to speak for the Tribunal, and each calls the other unlawful. Police are still holding the perimeter at the government's request, and Nawrocki has demanded they leave. Whether today's consultations bring any party to the table, and who actually controls the court building when its judges next try to sit, is not yet known.