Disputed Polish constitutional court holds first meeting after takeover by government-backed judges

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

The group of eight government-backed judges who last week took control of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal (TK) have held a meeting at which they made a number of key decisions, including moving forward with disciplinary proceedings against the court’s chief justice, Bogdan Święczkowski.

However, the situation is mired in controversy and uncertainty. Święczkowski and the opposition-aligned president, Karol Nawrocki, do not recognise the judges who are now claiming control of the court, describing their actions as a “coup d’état”.

Meanwhile, there are doubts as to whether today’s general assembly even had a valid quorum, given that the chief justice and six other judges appointed under the former government did not attend.

The meeting was called by Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, who on Friday declared that Święczkowski and the deputy chief justice, Bartłomiej Sochański, had been suspended for failing to fulfil their duties. Korwin-Piotrowska said that she herself, as the longest-serving judge on the court, was taking control.

Large numbers of riot police were deployed outside the court, holding back protesters, including opposition politicians, and preventing Święczkowski and Sochański from entering the court. However, Nawrocki himself did enter the premises, where he clashed physically and verbally with Korwin-Piotrowska.

For a general assembly of the TK to be valid, two thirds of the court’s judges need to be present. Normally, given that the tribunal has 15 positions, that would mean at least 10 judges being present.

However, only eight judges attended today’s meeting. They were all appointed to the TK by the government’s parliamentary majority this year. But Nawrocki has refused to swear in five of them, meaning that their legal status has become disputed.

The TK’s seven other judges, including Święczkowski and Sochański, were all appointed to the court under the former Law and Justice (PiS) government, which was widely seen to have brought the court under its political control, including by unlawfully appointing three judges.

None of them attended Tuesday’s general assembly. Nevertheless, the eight judges present at the meeting, which was broadcast live for the first time in the TK’s history, decided that a quorum had been reached.

They did so on the basis that three of the TK’s judges were not authorised to attend: Święczkowski and Sochański, because they are suspended, and Jarosław Wyrembak, because he inherited his position from one of PiS’s unlawfully appointed judges.

That meant only 12 judges were authorised to attend, and two thirds of that number is eight, meaning that a quorum had been reached.

Once that issue was agreed, the eight judges present proceeded to decide upon a number of key issues. First, they adopted a draft budget for the TK for 2027, something that Święczkowski had been unable to achieve, which was used as an argument for his ousting.

Second, they drew lots to decide which of the TK’s judges would sit on disciplinary panels for Święczkowski and Sochański in relation to their suspension from the court.

However, some legal experts have expressed doubt as to whether a legal quorum was established at today’s meeting. Ryszard Piotrowski, a prominent constitutional scholar, called the meeting “illegal”, reports news website Onet. Przemysław Rosati, the president of the Supreme Bar Council, also expressed his doubts.

Święczkowski himself rejected the legitimacy of what he called a “social gathering”, saying that Korwin-Piotrowska is a “usurper” who has no right to call a general assembly at all, reported Polsat News.

Shortly before the meeting at the TK, Nawrocki also met with the prime minister, Donald Tusk, for the first time since the crisis at the court broke out last Friday. They had convened at the presidential palace for a meeting of the National Security Council that Nawrocki had called before the TK crisis.

During public remarks broadcast before the confidential meeting got underway, Nawrocki accused the government of “illegally taking over the Constitutional Tribunal”. He added that Tusk “bears full responsibility for…all these illegal actions”.

Tusk and his government have argued that the source of the crisis is, in fact, Nawrocki’s refusal to swear in judges appointed by parliament, as he is required to do, and then Święczkowski’s resultant refusal to accept those judges onto the court.

They also note that the TK has not been legitimate for a decade, since PiS unlawfully appointed judges and brought the court under its political influence.

Speaking to broadcaster TVN on Tuesday before the general assembly, justice minister Waldemar Żurek said that the actions being undertaken by Korwin-Piotrowska are the only way “to rebuild the independence of the tribunal”.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credits: Adrian Grycuk/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY-SA 3.0 PL)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.