Poland’s Tusk Government Confronts Constitutional Tribunal Leadership

What changed

Riot police were deployed at Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw as Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government confronted the court’s leadership.

Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said he had asked for President Bogdan Święczkowski and Vice-President Bartłomiej Sochański to lose their immunity so criminal charges could be brought. President Karol Nawrocki, backed by the former ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, turned his plane back to Warsaw as supporters gathered outside.

Why it matters

This is a fight over who gets to define Poland’s constitutional law: Tusk’s government, which says it is restoring the rule of law, or judges and politicians linked to the PiS-era court changes.

The dispute reaches back to appointments made after PiS took power in 2015. The European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union later found that three judges had been appointed improperly, saying the tribunal was no longer independent and impartial. Tusk’s government has used those rulings to stop publishing the tribunal’s decisions.

The institutional deadlock has continued. Nawrocki has refused to swear in five judges elected by parliament since March, while the Venice Commission recently said he should do so. One of those judges, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, is now temporarily running the court.

The immediate question is whether Żurek’s request will lead to the removal of immunity or criminal charges. The larger risk is that Poland’s highest constitutional court becomes harder to treat as a single authoritative institution, with rival sides each claiming legal legitimacy.

Both camps are using the language of constitutional rescue. The tribunal has called the government’s actions a coup, while Tusk says decisive action is necessary after years of PiS “lawlessness.” With parliamentary elections scheduled next year, the confrontation may also sharpen the political stakes, though its electoral purpose remains uncertain.