The removal of Bogdan Święczkowski as president of the Constitutional Tribunal has triggered a physical confrontation at the court and a political standoff between Donald Tusk’s government and the far-right Law and Justice (PiS) party. But Święczkowski was not so much removed as barred, because he held the position illegally.
WARSAW—Dramatic scenes are playing out at Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal amid a wave of speculation about whether Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government and the Tribunal judges elected by its liberal parliamentary majority are acting lawfully. Many will ask whether democrats must break the law to restore institutions sabotaged by populist authoritarians. In the Polish case, it’s the wrong question.
