Tuesday 3 November 2026
Poland's two highest courts hold rival assemblies today, and everything turns on whether ten judges sit in the room
Poland's Constitutional Tribunal holds a general assembly today at 3:30 p.m. Warsaw time, called by Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, who suspended the tribunal's president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and his deputy on Friday and took charge of the court. The assembly is set to take up the tribunal's 2027 budget and requests to lift the immunity of Swieczkowski and his deputy, Bartlomiej Sochanski. Its decisions need a quorum of 10 of the tribunal's 15 judges. The eight judges elected by the current parliament are expected to attend. Swieczkowski and the judges who back him say Korwin-Piotrowska is not lawfully in charge and that he remains president. The Supreme Court holds an extraordinary general assembly of its own today, called by its First President, Zbigniew Kapinski, who told Radio ZET on Monday that the actions against the tribunal bear, in his words, the hallmarks of a coup d'etat. President Karol Nawrocki has also called a meeting of the National Security Council for 3 p.m. today, which Polish media report will deal with a permanent American military base.
The fight is over who counts as a judge. The Sejm, where Prime Minister Donald Tusk's coalition holds the majority, elected eight judges this year. Nawrocki swore in three of them and refused to swear in the rest. The others took their oaths at a ceremony in parliament, and Swieczkowski refused to let them sit or enter the building. On Friday, while Nawrocki was travelling to Africa, a notice appeared on the tribunal's website: Korwin-Piotrowska, citing a provision of the law on common courts and a state of overriding constitutional necessity, had ordered a one month break in the duties of Swieczkowski and Sochanski and named herself as the judge leading the court. Nawrocki cut his trip short and flew home. Police have guarded the building since Friday afternoon, and several hundred protesters have gathered outside in support of Swieczkowski. Tusk said in a televised address on Saturday that the court would now function independently and in line with Poland's constitution.
The Justice Ministry has filed five motions to lift the immunity of Swieczkowski and Sochanski so they can face criminal charges, and consent to prosecute a tribunal judge requires a resolution of the general assembly. Jan Grabiec, who heads the prime minister's chancellery, acknowledged authorizing the judges' passage through government premises into the tribunal. Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek called Nawrocki's entry into the building a bandit raid on television on Sunday. Former Sejm Speaker Marek Jurek has invited the Polish People's Party to leave Tusk's coalition and back a constructive vote of no confidence on November 18 or 19. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights said over the weekend that the legal grounds for the suspension order are questionable.
The arithmetic has not moved. Fifteen seats, a quorum of ten, eight judges whose status both sides accept in part and dispute in part, and a president of the republic who backs one side while the government backs the other. The European Court of Justice ruled in December 2025 that the tribunal no longer meets the requirements of an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. What happens in the room this afternoon, and whether the room itself is lawful, will be argued in Warsaw for weeks.
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