The Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the Decree of the Minister of Digitization concerning civilian position papers for single-sex marriages concluded abroad was incompatible with the Constitution of Poland in the contested scope. Government representatives have already announced that decisions of the current TK will not be considered binding. Not only 1 authoritative form is at stake, but the question is whether the definition of matrimony can be amended by regulation and force from European courts.
Judgment on matrimony Acts
The Constitutional Court recognised the request of the Group of Members for a regulation of the Minister of Digitalism of 22 May 2026. These are models of papers issued in the scope of registration of civilian status, which were intended to let the transcription in Poland of acts of single-sex marriages concluded abroad.
According to Interia, the ruling lineup was composed by the president of TK Bogdan Święczkowski, the justice Rapporteur Stanisław Piotrowicz and the justice Wojciech Sych. The conviction was to fall unanimously. The Court found that the contested regulation was incompatible with Article 92(1) in conjunction with Article 18 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.
Article 18 as a frontier for authoritative creativity
Article 18 of the Constitution speaks of matrimony as a union between a female and a man and of the protection and care of the Republic over marriage, family, motherhood and parenthood. This provision has for years been a constitutional barrier to attempts to equalize another relationships with matrimony in the Polish legal order.
Therefore, the dispute does not concern only the form technique. The amendment of the regulation replaced the existing lines concerning women and men with an optional formula, beginning the way to enter in the Polish registry of single-sex marriages concluded abroad. The Minister of Digitization Krzysztof Gawkowski said in May that any specified couple would be able to transcribe at the civilian state office. According to the RPO, the regulation was announced in the authoritative diary of the Laws on 22 May 2026 and the entry into force of the amendments was linked to the execution of the judgement of the TEU of 25 November 2025.
Government rejects judgment
Following the decision of the TK, government representatives announced that they were not going to follow it. Government Plenipotentiary for Equality Katarzyna Kotula assessed on social media that the conviction had no legal force, citing a Parliamentary resolution of March 2024 concerning the position of the current Court. In turn, Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said that the work on the transcription solutions would continue.
This conflict reveals a more serious problem than the single-sex marriage. The rulers may respect the current TK as a politically flawed institution. This does not change the fact that the dispute over matrimony should be settled by law and constitution alternatively than celebrated by changing the model documents. A country that begins to make a social revolution through forms is itself undermining the authority of the law.
European force and Polish sovereignty
The case is based on European jurisprudence, including the TEU judgement on the designation of same-sex marriages concluded in another Union country. The Ombudsman pointed out that a associate State which does not let specified marriages is to establish procedures for designation of matrimony concluded by Union citizens exercising their freedom of movement.
From the Polish perspective, the question is clear: where does the administrative execution of the conviction end, and where does interference in the constitutional model of the household begin? Brussels and the European Courts have been expanding their ambitions on issues that affect national national identities for years. Poland cannot accept this logic without opposition, due to the fact that then further elements of social governance will be moved beyond the democratic control of citizens.
Family is not a column
You don't gotta deny any man dignity to defend matrimony as a union between a female and a man. This is the foundation of civilization, legal and social, not prejudice. The state has a work to defend the family, due to the fact that it depends on the continuity of the nation, the upbringing of children and the stableness of the community.
Therefore, the case of the CCC and the decrees of the Minister of Digital Affairs is of importance far beyond the courtroom. If the definition of matrimony can actually be changed by a method document, then the constitution becomes a decoration. Poles have the right to anticipate a simple standard from power: the dispute over the household is conducted fairly, in the Sejm and in front of the nation, not the back door of the administration.
Source: Radio Maryja
