On October 30, police surrounded Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw as a newly elected judge announced that the court’s president, Bogdan Święczkowski, was suspended. Many protesters gathered outside, and Polish President Karol Nawrocki was forced to cut a trip to Senegal short to return to the country’s capital. The standoff demonstrates why the European Union should examine how Poland restores judicial independence..
Like the U.S. Supreme Court, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal can rule on whether national laws violate the constitution, giving it the power to check what lawmakers can do. In 2015, the right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS) of Poland filled seats in the court that the previous parliament had already voted to fill. The European Court of Human Rights later found that the participation of an improperly appointed judge in a case violated the right to a tribunal established by law. Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk has pledged to restore judicial independence, but Nawrocki, who is backed by PiS, has refused to swear in judges expected by the current parliament.
The International Commission of Jurists criticized both Nawrocki’s refusal and the suspension of the tribunal’s leaders without a fair legal process. The commission argued that leaving disputed appointments unresolved keeps lawfully elected judges from doing their jobs. Yet replacing court leaders without clear legal grounds creates a precedent that a future government could use against judges it dislikes. Reform should therefore require Polish officials to explain the legal basis for removal and give affected judges a fair way to challenge them. Those protections matter most when a decision is contested.
The European Union ended its formal rule of law procedure against Poland in 2024 after reviewing Tusk’s reform plan and commitments. As TRT World reported, the European Commission has since heavily urged Poland to follow its constitution and relevant EU court rulings. To stop this crisis, the Commission should go further by publicly assessing whether judges can take their seats and whether suspensions follow legal procedures. This would give Polish citizens a way to judge progress beyond just listening to competing claims from their leaders. It would also remind other EU members that the same standards apply when a government promises reform. Poland’s reforms will succeed only if they protect the tribunal’s independence under future governments, including those that disagree with its rulings.