What to know about the crisis around Poland's Constitutional Tribunal

WARSAW, Poland -- Judges at Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal are meeting Tuesday to decide its future, following the suspension of the court president in a dispute with the government and a battle over the future of the rule of law.Protesters have gathered daily outside the court in Warsaw since the suspension of the tribunal’s top judge, Bogdan Święczkowski, who was appointed under the nationalist-conservative PiS party when it was in power 2015-2023. The pro-European government of Donald Tusk accuses Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki, who is aligned with PiS, of blocking judges elected by the parliamentary majority from taking up their posts at the tribunal. Święczkowski has called his suspension a “coup d’etat.”On Friday, riot police encircled the building while the most senior of the newly elected judges announced Święczkowski's suspension from inside.Nawrocki, who was on a visit to Senegal, turned his plane around to return to Warsaw, joining the protesters outside the tribunal. Here's what to know. The current crisis around the Constitutional Tribunal is the latest round in a long-term battle between the pro-European government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the main o...