A high-stakes battle over Poland’s highest constitutional court escalated into direct physical and political confrontations in Warsaw on Friday night, prompting President Karol Nawrocki to turn his plane around mid-flight to intervene, international media reported.
The turmoil erupted when judges chosen by Poland’s parliamentary majority entered the Constitutional Tribunal and announced the one-month suspension of its chief justice, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and his deputy, Bartlomiej Sochanski. Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska declared that she was assuming temporary leadership of the court, arguing that her total length of judicial service gave her the right to take charge, according to Al Jazeera.
Midair turnaround and physical scuffles
Nawrocki, a political ally of the nationalist opposition Law and Justice party, known as PiS, was on a flight to Senegal for an official visit when the incident unfolded. He ordered his plane to turn back toward Poland and rushed directly to the court complex in Warsaw early Saturday morning, Euronews reported.
Video footage showed the president entering the building and engaging in heated arguments and physical scuffles with judges blocking the entryway, Notes From Poland reported. Marcin Przydacz, an aide to Nawrocki, alleged that Korwin-Piotrowska and another judge violated the inviolability of the head of state, while newly elected judge Maciej Berek said the president pushed past Korwin-Piotrowska with substantial force.
Outside the court building, riot police deployed to secure the grounds as hundreds of anti-government demonstrators gathered alongside PiS leaders, including Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Warsaw police reported that three demonstrators were detained after individuals threw items at officers and tried to break through perimeter barriers, ABC News reported.
Rival claims over the rule of law
Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who returned to power in late 2023 at the helm of a pro-European coalition, defended the measures. Tusk wrote on social media that restoring the judicial system after eight years of PiS governance was a difficult obligation that demanded decisive action, according to reports.
PiS officials and Nawrocki rejected the maneuver as unlawful. In a statement delivered by his chief of staff, Pawel Szefernaker, Nawrocki described the confrontation as an illegal, forceful takeover of a constitutional body and a violation of the nation’s constitutional order, Euronews reported. Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek denounced Nawrocki’s conduct as alarming and urged prosecutors to investigate whether offenses had occurred, Notes From Poland reported.
The dispute stems from years of friction regarding judicial appointments. Under previous PiS administrations, the court faced criticism from the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights over political interference. When the current parliament elected eight new judges this year to fill vacancies, Nawrocki administered oaths to only three, leaving five judges to take self-organized oaths that Swieczkowski refused to recognize, according to Al Jazeera.
What happens next
Nawrocki invited parliamentary factions to emergency consultations on Saturday to address the constitutional crisis, though Tusk did not attend, ABC News reported. Representatives from two junior coalition parties, the Polish People’s Party and Poland 2050, joined the discussions, while The Left refused to take part.
Legal scholars warned that the standoff could set a volatile precedent for Polish democracy. A tribunal judges’ assembly scheduled for Nov. 3 could trigger further friction if the court attempts to vote on lifting Swieczkowski’s judicial immunity, Al Jazeera reported.
