Klage verloren, Kontrollrechte gewonnen
Eine umstrittene Parteispende an die Berliner CDU hat ein wegweisendes Urteil des VG Berlin angestoßen. Zwar ist die „DIE PARTEI“ mit einer Klage gescheitert, mit der sie die Bundestagsverwaltung verpflichten wollte, die CDU wegen des Verstoßes gegen ein Spendenannahmeverbot zu sanktionieren. Allerdings hat das Gericht den Drittrechtsschutz im Parteienfinanzierungsrecht anerkannt und damit klargestellt, dass konkurrierende Parteien die Entscheidungen der Bundestagspräsidentin überprüfen lassen können – ein Gewinn für die Parteiendemokratie.
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Im Süden nichts Neues
Am 12. September hat das VG Stuttgart mit einer einstweiligen Anordnung Schlagzeilen gemacht, als es den pauschalen Ausschluss von AfD-Vorschlägen für die Wahl ehrenamtlicher Richter für unzulässig erklärte. Vor allem wurde kritisiert, das Gericht habe der AfD damit den Weg zu ehrenamtlichen Richterstellen geebnet. Doch tatsächlich eignet sich der Beschluss nicht für eine Politisierung: Er trägt nicht dazu bei, Verfassungsfeinde vom Amt am Verwaltungsgericht auszuschließen. Vielmehr hat das VG Stuttgart erneut die Maßstäbe herausgestellt, die sich aus Art. 33 Abs. 2 GG für den gleichen Zugang zu öffentlichen Ämtern ergeben.
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The Conviction of Nicolas Sarkozy
France often takes pride in calling itself a Republic. Invoking the Republic has even become a political mantra, repeated across the entire political spectrum. Yet the sheer frequency of these references has emptied the term of much of its meaning. The reactions to Nicolas Sarkozy’s conviction suggest that many journalists, politicians, and citizens still struggle to grasp what it truly means to be “republican”. Although the judgment of the Paris Criminal Court is particularly thorough, it has provoked widespread controversy, reopening the enduring debate on political justice in France – while also appearing as a sign of the strengthening of the republican ideal.
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EU Sanctions and the Mirage of Unanimity
The EU’s sanctions framework is meant to work in two steps: unanimity for decisions defining the Union’s approach to “a particular matter of a geographical or thematic nature” under Article 29 TEU, and qualified majority voting for the necessary measures implementing these decisions under Article 215 TFEU. In reality, the two steps are collapsed into one, which magnifies the leverage of a single veto. This post makes the case for resequencing this practice which would realign decision-making with the Treaties’ design, reduce the risk of impasse, and improve speed and flexibility.
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Government “Shutdowns” and the U.S. Constitution
In a wearyingly familiar recurrence, parts of the U.S. government shut down last week after Congress failed to approve funding for the new fiscal year. Though bewildering to foreign observers (and many Americans), these government closures reflect important features of the U.S. system of checks and balances. In that sense, they are a sign of constitutional strength rather than weakness, yet this shutdown, like other recent funding lapses, also shows that acute partisan divisions are complicating American governance.
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Violence and Constitutional Faith
Charlie Kirk’s murder has become a rallying symbol for Christian nationalists, merging religious martyrdom with state power. With America’s secular constitutional faith collapsing, a politicized church turns sacrifice from love into a license for violence. Under Trump, faith and force converge, raising the specter of civil war in America’s own streets.
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Stresses and Strains
The European Parliament and the Commission are revising a Framework Agreement governing their mutual relationship. First introduced in 2005, the Agreement sets out how the two institutions intend to manage affairs within the context of their EU treaty-based interdependence. The revised Framework Agreement was agreed on 9 September and has since been formally accepted by the Commission. It now meanders through Parliament for final endorsement. Here I look at the background to the new accord, summarise the main changes, and suggest what it might mean for the Union’s political and legislative processes.
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Unwavering Loyalty
On 5 August 2025, the Cameroonian Constitutional Council upheld a Resolution made by Cameroon’s elections management body to exclude opposition leader Maurice Kamto from the presidential election scheduled for 12 October 2025. The decision effectively eliminates the strongest opposition contender from the race and was misguided by its narrow formalism. While judicial formalism may, in some cases, be defensible for the sake of certainty and predictability, the Constitutional Council’s selective adherence to it makes its motivation questionable.
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Terrorists Cannot be Tried Twice
On September 11, 2025, the CJEU ruled that Spain cannot prosecute an ETA leader for terrorist acts after her prior conviction in France for related offenses activates the ne bis in idem principle. The Court emphasized that “same acts” are defined by materially identical conduct, regardless of differing legal classifications in Member States. This decision highlights the limits of parallel prosecutions under EU law, even in complex cross-border terrorism cases.
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Caring for Rights
On August 7, 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued its Advisory Opinion OC-31/25, responding to a request submitted by Argentina on the right to care. The Court provided a comprehensive interpretation of the right to care as implicitly embedded in the Convention, connected to other conventional rights, and multifaceted in nature. Care thus becomes an essential component of multiple rights protected by the Convention and binding upon the signing States – implying that soon we might witness the proliferation of respective norms.
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CURRENT DEBATES
Defund Meat
Meat is an embodied symbol of the mounting and interrelated environmental and public health crises that have become characteristic of our era: climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, pandemics, food insecurity, unhealthy and unsustainable diets, and institutionalised animal suffering. Drawing from the Defund Meat conference in January in Heidelberg, this blog symposium moves the meat question from the margins into the spotlight. Convened by Saskia Stucki and Anne Peters, the symposium is supported by the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law.
Read all articles >>The Constitution Hill Global Guidelines on Apex Court Appointments
In an era of growing threats to democracy worldwide, the independence of apex courts has emerged as one of the critical fault lines. From subtle co-optation to overt manipulation, judicial appointments often decide whether courts can defend constitutional rights. This blog symposium examines the Constitution Hill Global Guidelines on Apex Court Appointments – the first-ever global effort to articulate a set of guiding principles for the appointment of judges to apex courts.
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Volume 7,Issue 2
July 2025
JUS COGENS
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Killing Hitler Word by Word: The Oath as Apocalyptic Lawmaking
GREGOR NOLL
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Adjudicating Climate Protest as a Tool of Modern Republicanism
DMITRII KUZNETSOV
OUR LATEST PUBLICATION
Friedrich Zillessen (Hrsg.)
Die vorbereitete Demokratie:
Resilienz durch Antizipation im Thüringen-Projekt
Was wäre, wenn autoritär-populistische Akteure in Thüringen Zugang zu staatlichen Machtmitteln erhielten? Wie würden sie vorgehen, um ihr eigenes Abgewähltwerden zu erschweren? Welche rechtlichen und institutionellen Spielräume stünden ihnen offen?
Für diesen Sammelband haben wir 35 Blogposts aus dem Thüringen-Projekt ausgewählt, die diesen Fragen nachgehen und über tagespolitische Ereignisse hinaus Relevanz entfalten. Die Beiträge testen Schwachstellen, entwickeln Szenarien und führen die Debatte über Resilienz weiter – und tragen so dazu bei, dass die Demokratie besonders dann wehrhaft ist, wenn sie vorbereitet ist.
PROJECTS
VB Security and Crime
In cooperation with:
VB Security and Crime is a cooperation of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law (MPI-CSL) and the Verfassungsblog in the areas of public security law and criminal law. The MPI-CSL Institute is a member of the Max Planck Law network.
Das Justiz-Projekt
Weltweit gerät die unabhängige und unparteiische Justiz unter den Druck des autoritären Populismus.
Wie verwundbar ist die rechtsprechende Gewalt in Deutschland – im Bund und in den Ländern?
VB Security and Crime
In cooperation with:
VB Security and Crime is a cooperation of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law (MPI-CSL) and the Verfassungsblog in the areas of public security law and criminal law. The MPI-CSL Institute is a member of the Max Planck Law network.
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