Late last week the German Parliament (Bundestag) postponed a vote that would have decided on the empanelment of three new justices at the country’s powerful Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht). The delay – likely lasting the duration of the government’s summer holiday – was triggered when members of the Union Parties signaled their late-emerging opposition to University of Potsdam Professor Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, who had been nominated to the Court by the SPD. Brosius-Gersdorf’s chances looked imperiled because the Union-SPD coalition would have to vote together – and count on support from other parties – to secure the two-thirds majority needed to confirm a justice at the Constitutional Court. These judicial machinations matter for the traditions of collegiality, consensus, and neutrality that have long legitimized the work of the Constitutional Court. But they also have political ramifications because they suggest a lack of unity, compromise, and commitment in Chancellor Fredrich Merz’s freshly-minted governing coalition. What caused this judicial appointments crisis? And what does it mean for the broader political picture in Germany?
Join the ACG for a virtual discussion with German law experts Prof. Russell Miller, J.B. Stombock Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University, and Prof. Dr. Alexander Thiele, Associate Dean for Research and Interdisciplinarity and Chair for State Theory and Public Law at BSP Law School in Berlin.