First President of the Supreme Court Zbigniew Kapiński has convened an extraordinary General Assembly of Supreme Court (SN) judges for Tuesday, 3 November, at 2 p.m. Judges are to discuss threats to the constitutional order and adopt a position by way of a resolution.
Information about the order was published on Saturday evening, 31 October, on the Supreme Court’s website. Earlier, SN judge Kamil Zaradkiewicz announced the assembly on social media, as reported by Polsat News. The document bears the number 91/2026, and the meeting is to take place at the seat of the SN.
What is on the agenda
According to a statement from the SN, quoted among others by TVN24, judges are to take up the „discussion of threats to the constitutional order of the Republic of Poland”. In particular, this concerns respect for the principle of a democratic state governed by the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, and the proper functioning of constitutional state bodies. The agenda also provides for the adoption of a resolution on this matter.
In the order, the First President justified the extraordinary procedure. He wrote that the circumstances and the need to „urgently take a position” by the assembly do not allow the seven-day notice period for a meeting, provided for by the Act on the Supreme Court, to be observed.
Background: the crisis around the Tribunal
The order does not name the Constitutional Tribunal, at least in the excerpts cited by the media. However, the timing coincides with a dispute over the management of the Tribunal (TK). On Friday, 30 October, events took place outside the Tribunal’s seat. Seven Constitutional Tribunal judges described them as „entirely unlawful”. On Saturday evening, Prime Minister Donald Tusk delivered an address to the nation, which the Chancellery of the Prime Minister had announced earlier. Kapiński’s order was published after these events, and the media link it to the crisis at the Tribunal.
As of publication, the content of the draft resolution and the positions of individual SN judges are not known. It is also unclear whether the resolution will be adopted and what it will say.
What the General Assembly of SN judges is
It is a body made up of Supreme Court judges. It is convened by the First President and may adopt resolutions on matters within its competence. A resolution adopted in this way represents the position of the judicial community, not a ruling in a specific court case.
What it means
On Tuesday after 2 p.m. we should learn whether the Supreme Court will take a formal position in the dispute over the Constitutional Tribunal. For the reader, this is above all a signal of the direction in which one of the highest judicial instances will assess the situation. The assembly does not in itself change the legal situation at the TK. Orders concerning the management of the Tribunal remain the subject of dispute.
