Poland's President Rushes Home as Constitutional Court Standoff Deepens

Polish President Karol Nawrocki abandoned a trip to Senegal on Friday and returned to Warsaw as a fight over who leads the Constitutional Tribunal escalated. According to the BBC, his chief of staff said he later entered the court building, where riot police had been posted.

The tribunal's leadership says the attempt to suspend its top two officials is unlawful. The government says it is restoring the rule of law. Here is where things stand.

What has happened since the police arrived?

Nawrocki announced he was cutting short his flight to Senegal, saying the president had to be in Poland at such a moment. Türkiye Today, citing Polish media, reported that his plane turned back over Spain and landed in Warsaw. He had been heading to the opening of the Summer Youth Olympic Games in Dakar.

The head of his office, Pawel Szefernaker, said Nawrocki would meet Zbigniew Kapinski, first president of Poland's Supreme Court, right after landing. The president's aides said he was acting as guarantor of constitutional continuity. One deputy head of his office, Adam Andruszkiewicz, said Nawrocki would not allow the rule of law to be destroyed by force.

According to The Times of India, dozens of police guarded the building while supporters of the opposition Law and Justice party (PiS) gathered outside. An AFP journalist at the scene reported chants against Tusk, and some protesters prayed with rosaries. The BBC said riot police were there to keep demonstrators from entering. Police said they were carrying out their statutory duties and denied interfering with the court's work or forcibly removing its security staff, Türkiye Today reported.

Who is actually running the tribunal?

That is the core of the dispute. An announcement ordering the suspension of tribunal President Bogdan Swieczkowski and Vice President Bartlomiej Sochanski appeared on the tribunal's website. The court's leadership said the site had been unlawfully taken over and that both men remain in office. The Times of India reported the site was inaccessible on Friday evening.

The Times of India said tribunal judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska announced the suspension. The BBC said she has been placed in temporary charge of the court. The tribunal's official account argued she cannot act as interim chief because the president never swore her in. It called the move a "coup d'etat" and said anyone taking part was committing that crime, according to the BBC.

Why does the government want to prosecute the judges?

Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Waldemar Zurek filed five applications to lift the judges' immunity, Türkiye Today reported. Four concern Swieczkowski and one concerns Sochanski. Zurek argues the two should face criminal charges for not allowing certain judges to hear cases, the BBC said.

The judges in question were elected by parliament, but Nawrocki has refused to swear them in, citing alleged flaws in their selection. Sources differ on the number: Türkiye Today says three of six judges, while the BBC says five judges elected since March. Türkiye Today reported that Swieczkowski, for his part, has refused to let judges chosen by the current parliamentary majority take up their duties, and that the standoff has effectively paralyzed the court.

How are the two camps responding?

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a post that "Restoring the rule of law is our duty." He called it a difficult, sometimes painful process after years of PiS lawlessness and said there was no other way.

PiS-aligned figures and the president's allies say the government's actions threaten the rule of law. Critics of the PiS era have also objected. The BBC quoted lawyer Marcin Matczak, who has criticized PiS-era judicial changes and has called Swieczkowski the court's worst president. He said the suspension had no legal basis and that images of armed police would damage the rule-of-law cause for years. The BBC also noted that some Tusk supporters had accused him of not acting decisively enough, while some observers see the move as aimed at voters before next year's parliamentary elections.

Why does it matter?

The tribunal decides whether laws comply with Poland's Constitution, so a court that is paralyzed or contested affects how legislation can be challenged. Its legitimacy has been disputed since PiS lost power in 2023.

The wider background is that the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in December 2025 that irregular appointments of three judges and its president undermined the tribunal's independence under EU law. The BBC reported that the Tusk government has used European court rulings as grounds to stop publishing the tribunal's decisions. It also said Nawrocki and his predecessor, Andrzej Duda, used vetoes to block Tusk's attempts to undo PiS-era changes. Earlier this month, the Council of Europe's Venice Commission said Nawrocki should swear in the judges so they can sit on the bench.

No outcome of Friday's meetings had been reported by the time of the sources. Whether Swieczkowski and Sochanski can be prosecuted depends on the immunity requests Zurek has filed.

Earlier on Around Prague: Poland's Government Moves to Prosecute Top Judges as Police Guard Court

Around Prague, based on reporting by Türkiye Today, The Times of India, BBC