Polish president declares constitutional order violated after tribunal standoff

Polish President Karol Nawrocki declared on Saturday that Poland's constitutional order had been violated following an overnight confrontation at the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw, convening emergency talks with parliamentary parties to address the crisis. "Tonight, there was a violation of the constitutional order of the Republic of Poland and a forcible takeover of a constitutional state body," Nawrocki said after cutting short an official visit to Senegal and returning to the capital late Friday. The president spent several hours inside the disputed court building from approximately 1 am until shortly before 5 am, meeting First President of the Supreme Court Zbigniew Kapinski before traveling to the tribunal.

Tribunal confrontation

Inside the building, Nawrocki confronted Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska and other magistrates whose legitimacy he rejects, engaging in a tense exchange captured on video. "We are judges of the Constitutional Tribunal," Korwin-Piotrowska told the president. "You are not judges of the Constitutional Tribunal," Nawrocki replied, according to footage recorded inside the building. He later enabled Bartlomiej Sochanski—whom he recognizes as the tribunal's lawful vice president—to enter the premises and called for police to withdraw from the court grounds.

Power struggle

The standoff erupted Friday after Korwin-Piotrowska announced the temporary suspension of Tribunal President Bogdan Swieczkowski and Sochanski, intensifying a months-long dispute between Nawrocki and Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government over control of the court. The tribunal's official social media account—controlled by the previous leadership—rejected the move and accused those involved of committing a "coup d'état," claiming its website had been unlawfully seized. Tusk defended efforts to reshape institutions formed during the eight-year rule of the Law and Justice party, stating that restoring the rule of law required decisive action, while Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek criticized Nawrocki's conduct and called for prosecutors to examine the incident.