Polish parliament hosts swearing in of constitutional court judges in defiance of president

Apr 9, 2026 | Featured, Law, Politics

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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.

This is a breaking news story and may be updated as events develop and more information becomes available.

Poland’s rule-of-law crisis took a new twist today, as parliament – which is controlled by Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s ruling coalition – hosted the swearing in of four Constitutional Tribunal (TK) judges whose oaths opposition-aligned President Karol Nawrocki has refused to accept.

Nawrocki condemned the move as illegal, pointing to a provision of Polish law requiring that new TK judges be sworn in “before the president”. The government, however, has accused Nawrocki of himself violating the law by refusing to swear in legally appointed judges.

Given that the TK’s chief justice is also aligned with the opposition, it appears likely that he will, like Nawrocki, refuse to accept the four judges sworn in today in parliament. That may lead to a standoff at the court when the judges attempt to take up their seats.

Last month, the ruling coalition’s majority in the Sejm, the more powerful lower house of parliament, chose six new judges to fill empty seats on the TK. It was the first time in four years that new judges had been chosen, as Tusk’s government had previously been boycotting the court.

That was because it regards the TK as illegitimate since it contains judges unlawfully appointed under the rule of the former Law and Justice (PiS) government and PiS-aligned President Andrzej Duda. Tusk’s government has refused to recognise – or even publish – TK rulings.

As a result, since December 2025 – when one judge’s nine-year term expired and another retired for health reasons – only nine of the TK’s 15 seats have been filled. That is below the figure of 11 judges required for the court to have a full, valid bench.

 

Under the law, new TK judges must “take an oath before the president” within 30 days of being elected by parliament before taking up their seats on the court. Given that Nawrocki is aligned with PiS, there were doubts as to whether the president would invite the six new judges to be sworn in.

Last week, Nawrocki settled on an unusual compromise, inviting just two of the judges, Dariusz Szostek and Magdalena Bentkowska, to the presidential palace and witnessing their oaths.

The president’s chief of staff, Zbigniew Bogucki, said that Nawrocki had done so, despite doubts about the legality of the judge’s appointment by parliament, because adding two judges would bring the TK up to its valid bench of 11. He also noted that only two TK vacancies had opened up since Nawrocki became president.

However, many legal experts have rejected those arguments, saying that if Nawrocki accepted two of parliament’s appointments as valid, he must also accept the other four. Last week, PiS suspended one of its own MPs, Krzysztof Szczucki, a doctor of law, who had agreed with that opinion.

On Wednesday, news emerged that the four remaining judges – Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, Krystian Markiewicz, Maciej Taborowski and Marcin Dziurda – had decided to take their oaths in parliament shortly on Thursday. They sent invitations to Nawrocki to attend the ceremony.

On Thursday morning, Bogucki issued a statement on behalf of the president in which he said that the move would be an “ostentatious and conscious…violation of the law” and a “challenge to the powers assigned by statute and the constitution to the president”.

The president’s position was also supported by Poland’s commissioner for human rights, Marcin Wiącek, who told news website Wirtualna Polska that, according to the law, “the president must swear in Constitutional Tribunal judges”.

However, deputy prime minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz on Wednesday told broadcaster TVN that it is in fact Nawrocki who is “committing a violation” by refusing to undertake his duty under the law to receive the oath of legally appointed judges.

Despite the president’s opposition, today’s ceremony went ahead. The four judges took their oaths in the presence of a notary and Sejm speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty, a Tusk ally. Szostek and Bentkowska also took their oaths again alongside their colleagues in a show of solidarity.

Meanwhile, four former TK chief justices, Marek Safjan, Jerzy Stępień, Bohdan Zdziennicki and Andrzej Zoll, also attended the ceremony. Stępień told broadcaster TVN ahead of the ceremony that it was Nawrocki who had “forced the judges to take the oath in this manner” by “breaking constitutional custom”.

“In this situation, the newly elected judges had to choose a different form of taking the oath,” continued Stępień. “They did, and I greatly admire them for it, and I believe it was the right thing to do.”

The four judges will now seek to take up their seats on the TK. However, the court’s chief justice, Bogdan Święczkowski, a former member of the PiS government who has regularly clashed with the current government, is almost certain to refuse to admit them.

Święczkowski has already threatened disciplinary action against Szostek and Bentkowska for so far failing to turn up to work after being sworn in by Nawrocki last week, reports Wirtualna Polska. They had been waiting for their four newly appointed colleagues to also be sworn in.

Last week, interior minister Marcin Kierwiński even suggested that, if Święczkowski refuses to admit the new judges to the court, the police could be used to ensure they are allowed to take up their seats.


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 credit: Anna Strzyżak/Kancelaria Sejmu/X

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