Nawrocki pushes into Poland's Constitutional Tribunal amid suspension of its president

Suspension and police deployment

The crisis escalated on the evening of 30 October, when the government moved to suspend Bogdan Święczkowski, president of the Constitutional Tribunal, along with his deputy. A notice on the court's website said Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, a judge recently elected by the Sejm, would temporarily take over. Police arrived on the tribunal's grounds between 17:00 and 18:00 after a notification from Korwin-Piotrowska, according to the Warsaw police (KSP), which said the information pointed to possible threats to the life or health of judges and staff and a risk of public disorder. The KSP statement was issued after 17:30, while the notice on the court's website appeared around 18:00, so the police were already on site before it appeared. Her authority to act is disputed, because President Karol Nawrocki has not sworn in most of the judges elected on 13 March 2026. Of those six, he took the oath from only two.

Nawrocki's return and entry into the building

Nawrocki was flying to Senegal, where he was due to attend the opening of the Youth Olympic Games, when the plane turned back toward the capital. He returned to Warsaw that evening and went to the tribunal, where video footage shows him pushing and pulling his way into the building. Le Soir reports that he was accused of having jostled judges to get inside. Maciej Berek, a judge recently appointed by the Tusk government who has not yet been sworn in by Nawrocki, shared the footage on X. According to Berek, the president physically attacked a female judge during the entry.

Competing accounts of the suspension

Święczkowski has described the move as a 'coup' and 'an attack on a constitutional institution', arguing that the court is made up of lawfully appointed judges. The tribunal's X account called the government's action an 'illegal coup', while its website carried the notice of the suspension. Tusk has defended the measure as necessary to restore the rule of law after what he described as years of illegality under the Law and Justice (PiS) government. His government says the step is needed to guarantee the independence of the judicial body. The justice minister, who is also prosecutor general, has asked for the immunity of the court's president to be lifted. The PiS government appointed judges to the court between 2015 and 2023, and the EU Court of Justice ruled that the body could not be considered independent and impartial. The tribunal's budget could not be voted on, which was one of the deadlocks that preceded the latest escalation.

Ambassadors resign

Two Polish ambassadors announced their resignations. Paweł Sołoch, the ambassador in Romania, wrote on X that, given the attempt to take over the tribunal illegally, he no longer saw the possibility of serving as ambassador. Jakub Kumoch, the ambassador in China, had said hours earlier that he could no longer work in the post because of events in Poland. PAP reports that both men are former collaborators of ex-president Andrzej Duda.

Protests and the call for consultations

Supporters of the nationalist party gathered outside the tribunal on the evening of 30 October after the suspension was announced. Polsat News reported incidents at the protest, including objects thrown at officers, and the KSP said three people who had jumped the fence onto the grounds were detained. Early on 31 October, Nawrocki addressed the crowd outside the building and demanded the restoration of the rule of law and the withdrawal of the security forces sent by the government. A communiqué read by his chief of staff, Paweł Szefernaker, said the president was convening urgent consultations because of a threat to the country's internal security. Korwin-Piotrowska told PAP that she could meet the president at the Presidential Palace.