Brussels backs the Sejm's judges as Poland's tribunal fight heads to a Tuesday assembly that may not reach a quorum

The crisis is now in its third day. On Friday, Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska announced the suspension of Swieczkowski and his deputy, Bartlomiej Sochanski, and took charge of the court herself, saying she was its longest serving judge. Riot police have guarded the building since Friday. President Karol Nawrocki forced his way in during the night and told the judges facing him that they were not judges of the court. On Sunday, Swieczkowski was again kept out of the building, and Korwin-Piotrowska's order barring him and Sochanski from entering was republished.

Brussels chose its ground carefully. McGrath backed the Sejm's right to appoint the new judges, which is the part of the dispute where European bodies have already ruled, citing the Venice Commission's October opinion. He stopped short of endorsing the suspension itself, the step one judge took on Friday under a borrowed provision of the law on common courts, with police at the gate. Four former presidents of the tribunal took the other side of a different question, calling Nawrocki's night time entry an unprecedented violation of the court's autonomy.

Zurek, who is both justice minister and prosecutor general, laid out the government's timetable on television on Sunday. He said it is a matter of weeks before the tribunal holds its first hearings and rules on cases on their merits, once the general assembly Korwin-Piotrowska has called for Tuesday has met. He wants his motions to lift the immunity of Swieczkowski and Sochanski handled as quickly as possible, and the tribunal's budget for next year adopted.

Tuesday is where the arithmetic bites. The assembly needs at least ten judges present. Swieczkowski says he and seven judges he regards as lawfully appointed will not take part in what he called the actions of a group of usurpers. Poland's Supreme Court has also called an extraordinary assembly for Tuesday at 2 p.m. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Saturday that the tribunal will function as it should, in line with the constitution and independently of him, and his Saturday consultations at the presidential palace produced no agreement. Both sides are claiming the constitution. Only one of them can run the building on Tuesday, and it is not yet clear that either side can seat a lawful full court.