Poland's Court War: Rulers Fight Over Who Owns the Robes

Police surrounded the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw on Friday night while the cameras rolled live. Inside, a president who had turned his plane around mid-flight from Senegal pushed his way into a courtroom after midnight to confront judges. Outside, a prime minister was already drafting his address to the nation. Nobody in the building was asking the people of Poland what they wanted.

Two Rulers, One Court

The fight pits Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government against President Karol Nawrocki over efforts to reverse judicial changes introduced by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government between 2015 and 2023. Those changes drew condemnation from European courts over judicial independence. Nawrocki, elected with PiS backing in 2025, has refused to swear in some Tribunal judges elected by the current parliamentary majority. The court's PiS-linked leadership, meanwhile, has kept those same judges from working for months.

Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska took charge of the Tribunal and suspended Święczkowski and Sochański for blocking the judges chosen by Tusk's majority. Nawrocki called it an unlawful takeover and held talks with parliamentary leaders on Saturday. Tusk's Civic Coalition and its government ally, the New Left, boycotted them. Korwin-Piotrowska has convened an assembly of Tribunal judges for Tuesday, which could set up another showdown over who controls the court.

Brussels Picks a Side

The European Commission, in a statement it described as closely monitoring developments, leaned toward Tusk. "The Polish Constitutional Tribunal needs to be able to function in accordance with the Polish constitution and the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU," Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law Michael McGrath told POLITICO. "This matters for every Polish citizen, and it is for the Polish authorities to ensure that," he added, noting that "the Venice Commission has been clear that appointing the new judges lies within the power of the Sejm."

A Commission spokesperson told Euronews the appointment of eight new Tribunal members "lies within the constitutional power of the Sejm." The spokesperson also pointed to the European Court of Human Rights, which on 5 May 2026 issued interim measures telling Polish authorities to "refrain from hindering the taking up and exercise of judicial duties by judges appointed by the Sejm in March 2026." That was about six months ago. The judges still weren't working.

Everyone Defends the Rule of Law

Tusk vowed not to retreat. "In some matters there can be no compromise," he said, comparing calls for reconciliation to a thief demanding to keep half the contents of a stolen handbag. "A democratic state has to be strong and capable of enforcing justice," he added, promising the rule of law would prevail over violence. "In a state governed by the rule of law, a politician cannot enter a court or tribunal and give orders or intimidate judges, even if he is the president," he said of Nawrocki.

The other side uses the same vocabulary. The Tusk government says it is pushing ahead with long-needed reforms after years of what it describes as PiS interference in the judiciary. The opposition accuses Tusk's government of attempting a coup. The co-chairs of the European Conservatives and Reformists group backed Nawrocki. "The Tusk government's actions constitute a clear and grave violation of the rule of law," ECR co-chair Nicola Procaccini said, adding that European institutions "must not avert their eyes."

So the same phrase, rule of law, is wielded by a government with a police cordon, a president storming a courtroom, and a parliamentary bloc in Brussels. All claim to defend it. All want the court on their side of the argument.

Eleven Years of the Same Fight

The Tribunal's legitimacy has been contested for more than a decade. It began in 2015, 11 years ago, when the then-governing Civic Platform and the opposition Law and Justice party clashed over the appointment of five judges. Each side has since held power, and each has treated the court as spoils. The PiS changes ended three years ago; the stalemate didn't.

The pattern is plain from the record: whoever holds the Sejm or the presidential palace claims the bench, and the other camp calls it a coup. Ordinary people in Poland appear in the story only as the abstraction McGrath invoked, the "every Polish citizen" the dispute supposedly matters to. Their say in who sits on the bench remains the same as ever. Tuesday's assembly will show which set of rulers, for now, gets to fill the robes.