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Constitutional crisis in Poland. Long read
To understand what is happening around the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland, who appointed whom and why the sides do not recognize each other’s authority, let us reconstruct the chronology of events.
What the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland is.
The Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland (Trybunał Konstytucyjny) is the counterpart of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
2015 year.
After the Law and Justice party (PiS) led by Jarosław Kaczyński came to power, the new parliamentary majority challenged the election by the previous Sejm of five judges of the Constitutional Tribunal and elected others, who took their oaths before President Andrzej Duda.
At the same time, the Tribunal itself deemed constitutional the election of three of the five previous candidates.
Despite this, PiS continued to shape the court’s composition, and in 2016 year Duda appointed Julia Przyłembska as its chair.
Subsequently, the Tribunal’s independence was repeatedly questioned by the Polish opposition, legal experts, and European institutions.
2022–2024 years.
In February of 2022 year the Sejm, controlled by PiS, elected Bohdan Święczkowski to the Tribunal — a former National Prosecutor of Poland who worked under PiS political ally Zbigniew Ziobro.
In 2023 year PiS lost its parliamentary majority, and Donald Tusk became head of the government. However, the Tribunal’s composition remained largely formed by the previous authorities, since judges are elected for nine-year terms.
In 9 December of 2024 year President Duda appointed Święczkowski as chair of the Tribunal. His deputy was Bartłomiej Sochański, also elected during PiS rule. Thus, despite the change of government, the previous authorities retained significant influence over the Constitutional Tribunal.
2024–2025 years.
Donald Tusk’s governing coalition announced the restoration of the rule of law and a review of the consequences of PiS’s judicial reforms.
The parliamentary majority questioned certain appointments and Tribunal decisions and initiated legislative changes. This provoked opposition from President Andrzej Duda, and from August of 2025 year — his successor Karol Nawrocki, elected with PiS support.
Effectively, two political centers emerged: Tusk’s government and parliamentary majority, which sought to reform the Tribunal, and President Nawrocki, who supported its current leadership.
13 March 2026 year.
The Sejm elected six judges of the Constitutional Tribunal: Magdalena Bentkowska, Marcin Dźurda, Krystian Markiewicz, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, Maciej Taborowski, and Dariusz Szostek.
All candidacies were supported by the parliamentary majority, while PiS-backed candidates did not receive the necessary votes. Among the newly elected was Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, the former head of the District Court in Opole, who would later announce the suspension of the Tribunal’s leadership.
April 2026 year.
On 1 April President Nawrocki accepted the oath of only two of the six newly elected judges — Magdalena Bentkowska and Dariusz Szostek.
The presidential administration explained this by saying that only two vacancies arose after he took office.
A legal conflict arose: the Constitution provides for judges to be elected by the Sejm, while the law requires them to take their oaths before the president. Thus the question arose whether the president can block a judge’s assumption of office by refusing to accept their oath, even though they were elected by the parliament.
On 9 April all six judges took part in an oath-taking ceremony in the Sejm. The parliamentary majority regarded this as a way to overcome the presidential blockade, whereas Nawrocki disputed the legality of the procedure.
Thus the presidential side did not recognize the authority of four judges, including Korwin-Piotrowska.
June–October 2026 year.
On 11 June the Sejm elected Sławomir Patyra as a judge, who in July took his oath before the president.
On 4 September the parliament elected former minister in Tusk’s government Maciej Bierek, but the president did not accept his oath.
Therefore on 14 October Bierek took it in the Sejm.
The Tribunal’s leadership under Święczkowski did not recognize the authority of some of the newly elected judges, who in turn accused him of obstructing their work.
The dispute over the appointments gradually turned into a struggle for actual control of the Constitutional Tribunal.
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