Warsaw: The Polish Constitutional Tribunal slid into an open institutional confrontation on 30 October 2026, when judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska ordered a one-month suspension of its president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and its vice-president, Bartłomiej Sochański. She then took over the running of the institution and said the step was needed so that every judge elected by the Sejm could sit on the bench. The move turned a long-running argument over legitimacy into a physical standoff at the court’s headquarters.

Święczkowski and the existing leadership of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal called the suspension unlawful. They argued that no legal basis exists for removing a president from duty, and that judges sworn in without the president present are not full members of the court. Seven judges entered the building escorted by State Protection Service officers, and scuffles followed.

President Karol Nawrocki arrived overnight and described the episode as an attempted takeover of a constitutional institution. He asked political leaders for urgent consultations. On Saturday 31 October, Święczkowski said he and the remaining judges would try to regain control of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, while Korwin-Piotrowska announced a General Assembly of judges for 3 November.

The Polish Constitutional Tribunal has been contested for a decade. In 2015 the outgoing governing coalition filled five seats, President Andrzej Duda refused to accept the oaths, and the Law and Justice party later declared those appointments void. The tribunal itself ruled that three of the five were valid. Between 2016 and 2023 the Law and Justice majority changed the court’s rules, Julia Przyłębska became president in December 2016, and the government refused to publish one 2016 ruling.

Donald Tusk’s coalition, in office since 2023, contested the court’s status from 2024. In December 2024 Duda named Święczkowski, a former prosecutor and associate of Zbigniew Ziobro, as president.

In March 2026 the Sejm elected six new judges. Nawrocki accepted two oaths and refused four, so the four judges swore in front of a notary in parliament on 9 April. On 12 May the tribunal ruled in case K 3/26 that the president need not accept every appointment and must be present for the oath. In October, Maciej Berek also took his oath in parliament without a presidential invitation.

The dispute reaches beyond Poland’s borders. In May 2026 the European Court of Human Rights issued an interim measure telling Polish authorities not to block the four judges, and the Venice Commission said the president’s role in the oath should be ceremonial. The Polish Constitutional Tribunal also issued rulings in 2021 that challenged the primacy of certain EU law provisions on the judiciary, so the EU dimension of the dispute remains live.

Three events will now shape the outcome. Korwin-Piotrowska has convened the General Assembly for 3 November, Święczkowski is working to retake control of the building, and Nawrocki has asked party leaders to meet. No timeline exists beyond those steps, so the Polish Constitutional Tribunal enters November with two rival claims to lead it.