A leadership fight at Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal intensified after a senior judge ordered a monthlong pause for its president and vice president, exposing a deeper dispute over judicial appointments and presidential authority.
Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska signed the orders Friday, Oct. 30, in her stated role as the court’s longest-serving judge. The orders say they took effect immediately and direct President Bogdan Święczkowski and Vice President Bartłomiej Sochański to stop performing their official duties for one month. President Karol Nawrocki and the two officials dispute her authority.
The order naming Święczkowski alleges he kept four judges elected by Poland’s parliament, the Sejm, from a meeting on the Tribunal’s 2027 budget plan. It also says five judges elected in 2026 had not been allowed to hear cases. These are allegations in the order, not findings in a court ruling.
Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal decides whether laws comply with the Constitution. The Constitution gives the Sejm authority to elect 15 Tribunal judges for nine-year terms, while a 2016 law requires each judge to take an oath before the president before beginning work. Four judges elected in March 2026 took their oaths in the Sejm on April 9, 2026, after Nawrocki did not receive them.
The European Court of Human Rights issued a temporary measure on May 5, calling on Polish authorities to protect the four applicants’ ability to serve. The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission said in an Oct. 13 advisory opinion that the president must receive the oath “without undue delay.” The opinion says the oath does not give the president a second decision on who sits on the Tribunal and suggests a fallback procedure if it is not administered.
Warsaw police said the Prosecutor General asked them to pay particular attention to the Tribunal’s safety amid protests. Police also reported a separate warning from a Tribunal judge about possible threats to judges and staff and public disorder. Officers stayed outside the building, detained three people who jumped its fence and were pelted with dangerous objects, police said.
Nawrocki said the constitutional order had been violated and that he had facilitated Sochański’s access, calling him the lawfully serving vice president. Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X, in an English translation, “Restoring the rule of law is our obligation.”
Korwin-Piotrowska told TVN24 that Nawrocki pushed her aside as he entered the building. Le Monde reported witness claims of a shove and the presidential spokesman’s claim that judges put Nawrocki’s physical safety at risk; it said the encounter’s details remained unclear.
The Venice Commission also recalled a 2015 appointment crisis, when successive parliaments selected competing candidates for five seats and the Tribunal later upheld the outgoing parliament’s choices for three. The current orders continue an earlier dispute over leadership at the Tribunal. Korwin-Piotrowska has scheduled a General Assembly of Tribunal judges for Tuesday, Nov. 3, to consider the court’s proposed income and spending for 2027.
