Poland's parliament hosted an extraordinary swearing-in ceremony for four Constitutional Tribunal judges on Wednesday, directly defying President Karol Nawrocki's refusal to administer their oaths and intensifying the country's protracted rule of law crisis.
The ceremony marked an unprecedented escalation in the constitutional standoff between Poland's ruling coalition and the president. Four judges—Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, Krystian Markiewicz, Maciej Taborowski, and Marcin Dziurda—took their oaths before parliamentary Speaker Szymon Hołownia in the Sejm chamber, circumventing the traditional presidential ceremony.
Two judges previously sworn in by Nawrocki—Dariusz Szostek and Magdalena Bentkowska—retook their oaths in a symbolic gesture of solidarity with their colleagues, underscoring the deep divisions over judicial appointments that have paralyzed Poland's highest court.
Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz issued a sharp rebuke to the president, stating that Nawrocki is "committing a violation" by refusing to fulfill his constitutional duty. The government argues that Polish law clearly requires the president to swear in judges lawfully appointed by parliament.
Nawrocki, however, has maintained that he cannot administer oaths to judges whose appointments he considers legally questionable. After parliament's ruling coalition selected six new judges in March—the first Constitutional Tribunal appointments in four years—the president accepted only two, citing doubts about the legitimacy of the selection process.
Legal experts largely dismissed the president's reasoning. According to Notes from Poland, constitutional scholars argued that if the president believed the appointment mechanism was valid enough to accept two judges, logic dictated he should accept all six.
