Police Enter Poland’s Top Court, Head of Court Suspended in Battle for Control

Polish police on Friday entered the country’s top court and its leader was suspended as a power struggle over its control has become a constitutional crisis.The right-wing Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, or Law and Justice party, governed Poland from 2015 to 2023, but lost power to a pro-European Union center-left coalition of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.Mr. Tusk promised to restore judicial independence for the court system, but the Constitutional Tribunal has remained in the hands of the right-wing opposition and has blocked change. The court refused this month to seat a new judge voted onto the court by lawmakers in Mr. Tusk’s Koalicja Obywatelska or Civic Coalition party. It has previously refused to seat other judges.Mr. Tusk’s government views the tribunal as illegitimate due to disputed appointments made by Law and Justice. It has turned to the Council of Europe for help.The Constitutional Tribunal on Friday announced that the court’s president, Bogdan Święczkowski, was suspended. The vice president of the court was also suspended for one month by Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, the longest serving member of the 15 member court. The suspensions led to protests by supporters of the Law and Justice party. Police reported that the crowd threw objects at officers and several people breached the tribunal’s fence. The prime minister defended the police going into the court. “Restoring the rule of law is our duty. After years of PiS-led lawlessness, this is a difficult process, sometimes painful, and it requires decisive action. There is no other way,” Mr. Tusk said in an X post after police entered the building.The tribunal’s social media accounts appeared to remain in control of Mr. Święczkowski’s faction. It called the takeover “unlawful” in a post on X. “All persons participating in these actions are committing the crime of a coup d’état,” the post stated.President Karol Nawrocki, is backed by Law and Justice. He returned to Poland Friday due to the crisis, interrupting a trip to Senegal. “At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland. I am cutting short my flight to Senegal. I am returning,” Mr. Nawrocki said in an X post.Mr. Nawrocki has said that he does not recognize the appointment of the new judge and has refused to swear-in any judges approved by the Sejm RP, the lower house of parliament in Poland.Mr. Święczkowski became the head of the court when Law and Justice controlled the government. He is a close associate of a justice minister under the Law and Justice party, Zbigniew Ziobro. “The authorities are unlawfully using force and the police to paralyze a constitutional organ of the state.” Mr. Ziobro said in an X post. “This is an open, criminal coup against the constitutional order. Lawlessness in the presence of uniforms is still lawlessness,” he added.

Police Enter Poland’s Top Court, Head of Court Suspended in Battle for Control

Police Enter Poland’s Top Court, Head of Court Suspended in Battle for Control

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