A dispute over who can control Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal escalated into a public confrontation in Warsaw, with police deployed outside the building and President Karol Nawrocki cutting short a trip abroad.

The immediate trigger was Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek’s effort to remove the immunity of Tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski and vice-president Bartłomiej Sochański so criminal charges could be pursued. The Tribunal answered that those involved were committing “the crime of a coup d’etat,” framing the intervention as an attack on legally appointed judges.¹

Tusk’s government offers the opposite reading. The prime minister says it is trying to reverse years of political interference under the former Law and Justice (PiS) administration, arguing that “restoring the rule of law is our duty” and that the process requires decisive action.² Its position draws on earlier European Court of Human Rights and EU Court of Justice rulings that found three PiS-era judicial appointments improper and concluded the Tribunal was no longer an “independent and impartial tribunal.”³

Critics accept neither the government’s legal rationale nor its method. PiS politicians protested outside the court, while Nawrocki—who is backed by PiS—returned to Warsaw after turning his flight around. Legal scholar Marcin Matczak, himself a critic of PiS judicial changes, said the suspension lacked a legal basis and warned that images of armed police at the court could fuel a long-term backlash against rule-of-law reforms.³

The divide has also attracted international political commentary. Nigel Farage described “arrests and a raid on the constitutional court” as part of defending an “undemocratic EU,” while Liz Truss called the episode a “shocking assault on democracy.”Nigel Farage (Nigel_Farage)⁴ Liz Truss (trussliz)⁵ By contrast, Warsaw police said officers were operating outside the Tribunal to maintain public safety after warnings of threats to judges and staff, rather than interfering with the institution itself.¹