Eight Polish Constitutional Tribunal judges plan meeting — Politico Europe

In Warsaw, eight judges of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal supported by the governing parliamentary coalition plan to hold a meeting to approve the court’s budget and consider disciplinary measures against its president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and deputy president, Bartłomiej Sochański. To secure a quorum, they need 10 of the 15 judges to be present, meaning they must obtain the support of at least two judges elected under the previous Law and Justice government, Politico Europe reports.

Dispute over the court

Prime Minister Donald Tusk seeks to reverse changes to the Constitutional Tribunal introduced by the Law and Justice government in 2015–2023. His government says the reform should restore the rule of law and compliance with EU standards on judicial impartiality.

President Karol Nawrocki, who won office in 2025 with the backing of Law and Justice, supports keeping judges associated with the party in their posts. The immediate trigger for the current crisis was Nawrocki’s decision to independently determine which of the eight judges elected by parliament should be sworn in. According to the president’s critics, this violates the constitution.

Święczkowski did not allow the newly appointed judges to enter the tribunal building. Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, citing her longest tenure at the court, suspended the powers of Święczkowski and Sochański. After that, Nawrocki interrupted an official trip to Senegal, returned to Warsaw and arrived at the tribunal building at night.

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Impact on the election campaign

The conflict over the court is bringing right-wing opposition forces closer together ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for next year. Jarosław Kaczyński, co-founder of Law and Justice, former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, libertarian Sławomir Mentzen and Grzegorz Braun attended a protest against Tusk’s government near the tribunal building.

Anna Bryłka, vice president of the Confederation party, said that despite programmatic differences among right-wing parties, their common goal is to remove Tusk’s government. At the same time, Ben Stanley, a political scientist at SWPS University in Warsaw, noted that the current dispute may unite right-wing forces only temporarily, as significant ideological differences remain between them.

In December 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the Constitutional Tribunal does not meet the standards of an independent and impartial court because of irregularities in the appointment of judges ten years earlier.