Overnight dispute over the Constitutional Tribunal. Nawrocki cut short his trip

On Friday evening, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska announced a one-month suspension of Constitutional Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański, from performing their duties. She also announced that she was taking over the leadership of the Tribunal. The previous leadership challenged her decisions.

At the same time, Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek requested that both judges' immunities be lifted, meaning permission to hold them criminally liable. The request itself does not mean that guilt has been established.

Politicians and supporters of the right wing opposing the changes gathered outside the building. Police also appeared, saying they were securing the area following a report of a threat to judges and employees. As reported by Onet, Nawrocki arrived after midnight. A scuffle broke out as he entered. He left the building before 5 a.m.

In a statement published by the President's Office, Nawrocki described the events as a forceful takeover of a state body. He announced urgent consultations with representatives of parliament.

Parliament passes laws, but it must comply with the constitution. It sets out citizens' fundamental rights and the principles by which the state operates. The Tribunal checks whether enacted provisions comply with it. If it finds a violation, its ruling may lead to the provision being removed from the law in force.

Constitutional Tribunal judges are elected by the Sejm for nine-year terms. Once elected, they are supposed to be independent of politicians and assess laws according to the constitution. This also applies to laws passed by the majority that elected them. These rules are set out in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.

In 2026, the Sejm elected new judges, but Nawrocki did not administer the oath of office to some of them. They therefore took the oath in the Sejm and demanded to begin work. The president and Święczkowski question the validity of this procedure. The sides in the conflict therefore do not even agree on who may adjudicate in the Tribunal. Euronews described the background to this dispute.

However, the crisis has a longer history. One of its sources was the 2015 appointment of judges to seats that had already been filled. The European Court of Human Rights later confirmed that this appointment was irregular in the Xero Flor v. Poland case.

The government justifies its current actions by saying they are necessary to allow the new judges to work. The president considers them an unlawful takeover of the institution. The legal basis for removing the previous leadership has also been criticized by Professor Marcin Matczak, whose position was cited by Wirtualna Polska. Earlier violations of the law do not determine whether the current method of remedying the situation complies with the rules.

The significance of Constitutional Tribunal rulings is well illustrated by the case of women born in 1953 who took early retirement. After the rules changed, when calculating their pension after they reached the standard retirement age, the amounts of benefits already paid were deducted from the calculation basis. This resulted in a lower pension.

On 6 March 2019, the Tribunal found this mechanism unconstitutional with regard to the women born in 1953 covered by the ruling. In 2020, a law was passed allowing benefits to be recalculated on more favourable terms. The course of this case is described by the Commissioner for Human Rights.

This is how a Tribunal ruling can affect the amount of a monthly payment. That is why it matters whether its decisions are implemented by other state institutions. However, the overnight events themselves do not change pension amounts.