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Reporter Adam Easton (Warsaw)
Polish police deployed security forces to the Constitutional Court on the 30th. In the country, tensions are intensifying between the pro-European government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the head of the constitutional court appointed by the previous right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government.
On the same day, the Tusk government announced that Bogdan Święcikowski, President of the Constitutional Court, would be suspended from his duties. Furthermore, Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek requested that their immunity from prosecution be revoked so that criminal charges could be filed against Święcikowski and Deputy Commissioner Bartłomiej Sohanski.
Prime Minister Tusk has vowed to depoliticize the judiciary. On the 30th, he defended the measure to PiS supporters who had gathered to protest outside the Constitutional Court in Warsaw.
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President Karol Navrotzki's chief of staff, who is backed by PiS, said the president had arrived at the Constitutional Court.
Navrotzki canceled a trip to Senegal in response to the clashes in Warsaw. He was on his way to the Summer Youth Olympics in Dakar.
In Warsaw, security forces were deployed to prevent protesters from entering the courthouse.
In a social media post, the Constitutional Court stressed that the two judges the government is prosecuting remain legally appointed senior judges of the court. "All those who took part in these actions are committing the crime of a coup," he said.
"It is our duty to restore the rule of law. After years of lawlessness at the hands of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, this is a difficult and sometimes painful process that requires decisive action. There is no other way," Prime Minister Tusk said in a social media post.
Poland's Constitutional Court has the power to determine the legality of laws. The PiS-led government that took office in 2015 quickly appointed judges to secure a majority on the constitutional court.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) subsequently ruled that the three judges appointed by the PiS-dominated parliament were inappropriate because they overlapped with positions already legitimately appointed by the previous parliament.
The European court also ruled that the Polish Constitutional Court is no longer an "independent and impartial court." The Tusk administration, which was established in 2024, used this ruling as the basis for suspending publication of the court's decisions.
However, Mr Tusk failed to reverse the judicial reforms made during the PiS government. This is partly because Navrotzki and his predecessor Andrzej Duda, also backed by PiS, used their veto powers as president to block a series of legal changes.
President Navrotzki has also refused to take the oath of office of five constitutional judges selected by parliament since March, citing flaws in the selection process.
One of them, Anna Colwyn-Piotrowska, is currently appointed interim head of the Constitutional Court.
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The Venice Commission for Democracy through Law, the Council of Europe's constitutional advisory body, said earlier this month that President Navrotzki should allow the judges to take the oath and allow them to serve as judges.
Poland's Justice Minister Żurek said that President Święcikowski and Deputy President Sohanski of the Constitutional Court should be criminally prosecuted for withholding justice from the judges.
Some of Tusk's supporters accuse the prime minister of not taking more decisive action to reverse judicial reforms made during the PiS government.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled for next year in Poland. Some believe that the Tusk administration's recent actions are a move to increase the prime minister's popularity among voters.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tusk has been criticized for recommending Maciej Belek, a politician and lawyer with experience as a minister in his cabinet, to be a constitutional judge in September.
Lawyer Marzin Machak said Święcikowski's suspension had no legal basis "for countless reasons." "Today's action in the Constitutional Court, in my opinion, will bury this institution and the question of the rule of law for 20 years," he said.
Maciak has criticized judicial reforms under PiS and has publicly stated that he considers Święcikowski to be the worst head of the court in its history. Still, he added, "The footage of armed police and the legal interpretation that allows the justice minister to dismiss the president of the Constitutional Court by decree will provoke a strong backlash against the rule of law for years to come."
(English article Police deployed during stand-off over control of top Poland court)
