Poland's Constitutional Tribunal President Suspended by Disputed Order as Nawrocki Turns Plane Around

Poland's long fight over its top court turned physical on Friday, Oct. 30. A judge announced the suspension of the court's leadership, riot police gathered outside, and the president turned his plane around over Spain.

Both sides say the law is on their side. Neither is backing down.

What happened in Warsaw

Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska announced she had ordered the immediate suspension of Constitutional Tribunal acting president Bogdan Święczkowski and acting vice president Bartłomiej Sochański. The orders appeared on the tribunal's website.

The tribunal's official X account then rejected the move. It said Korwin-Piotrowska "is not a judge of the Constitutional Tribunal" and that "all persons participating in these actions are committing the crime of a coup d'état." The tribunal's leadership also said its website had been unlawfully taken over and that both men remain in office.

Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek told journalists he had asked for the immunity of Święczkowski and Sochański to be lifted. The prosecutor's office filed five applications: four seeking consent to prosecute Święczkowski and one concerning Sochański.

The president turns back

Two presidential Boeing 737-800s left Warsaw Chopin Airport at 14:45 CET for Dakar. Nawrocki was heading to Senegal for an official visit tied to preparations for the Summer Youth Olympic Games.

The aircraft were over southern Spain when he reversed course. "At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland. I am cutting short my flight to Senegal. I am returning," Nawrocki wrote on X.

The planes were scheduled to land back in Warsaw by 21:30 CET. Statements from the presidential administration were expected after his arrival.

Police: inside or outside?

The accounts differ on whether police entered the tribunal.

Warsaw police said officers were sent after receiving information about possible threats to judges and staff and a risk of public disorder. They said officers did not enter the court building and denied claims that police stormed it. Police said objects were thrown at officers, and three people were detained after allegedly climbing the fence around the tribunal.

Korwin-Piotrowska told public broadcaster TVP Info that seven judges were inside the building and no police had entered. Some reports, including Euronews and TRT World, described police as having entered the premises, and TRT World quoted police as saying officers entered the premises following incidents outside the court. Warsaw police and the judge say otherwise on the building itself.

Dozens of officers guarded the entrance. Supporters of the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party gathered outside, some praying with rosaries, and chanted "Tusk traitor," according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

Who sits on the court

The suspension order is the latest move in a fight over who legally holds seats on the tribunal.

Parliament elected Korwin-Piotrowska and several other judges earlier this year. Nawrocki, an ally of the former PiS government, refused to swear in three of the six judges nominated by parliament. His office argues those judges therefore never legally took office.

The government and parliamentary majority see it differently. Tusk's government accuses Święczkowski of blocking the appointment of judges chosen by parliament. TRT World reports he declined to let judges elected by the current majority take up their duties, which has effectively paralysed the court.

PiS held power from 2015 to 2023. During that period the European Union accused the tribunal of being too closely aligned with the government, and the court ruled several times that Polish law took precedence over EU legislation. Tusk pledged after winning the 2023 election to resolve the dispute with Brussels. Nawrocki has blocked his appointments to the court.

Two readings of the same morning

Tusk defended the government's approach on X. "Restoring the rule of law is our duty. After years of PiS lawlessness, it is a difficult process, sometimes painful, and requires decisive action. There is no other way," he wrote.

PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński arrived outside the court and called the events a "coup against the Constitutional Tribunal." He urged Nawrocki to intervene. Former deputy Foreign Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk made the same accusation, alleging that legally appointed judges were being kept out of the court.

The core question is narrow and unresolved: who is a lawful judge of the tribunal, and who has the authority to suspend its leaders? The tribunal says Korwin-Piotrowska has no such authority. The government and the judge say the suspensions stand.

What comes next

The immunity applications against Święczkowski and Sochański are now before the relevant bodies, and the government has not said how it intends to enforce the suspensions if the two men keep showing up. Nawrocki's first public statements after landing in Warsaw will show whether the presidency treats the suspension orders as valid. He is the official whose refusal to swear in judges sits at the center of the dispute.