Wahlstation beim Verfassungsblog
Für kluge und engagierte Rechtsreferendar_innen (m/w/*) haben wir in unserem neuen Büro in Berlin-Kreuzberg ab sofort einen Schreibtisch frei.
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Kein Raum zum Dissens?
Björn Höcke darf auch in städtischen Hallen auftreten. Zu diesem Ergebnis kam der Bayerische Verwaltungsgerichtshof und bestätigte, dass der Versuch von zwei bayerischen Gemeinden, Auftritte Höckes zu verhindern, rechtswidrig war. Eigens um solche Verbote zu ermöglichen, hatte der bayerische Landtag erst kurz zuvor die Gemeindeordnung geändert. Die Entscheidung des Gerichts macht klar, dass die Gesetzesänderung weitgehend symbolisch ist. Das gilt auch in Hinblick auf das Hauptziel der Reform: die Bewegung Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS).
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„Nur die Illusion von Schutz“
Australien hat als erstes Land im Dezember 2025 eine Altersgrenze für soziale Medien eingeführt. Diese Woche zeigte Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz „viel Sympathie“ für die entsprechenden Vorschläge von SPD und CDU. Neben den detaillierten Regulierungsfragen, die hinter dem Verbot stehen – EU-Kompetenzen, App-Design, Durchsetzbarkeit – wirft die Debatte grundsätzliche verfassungsrechtliche Fragen auf: Wie verteilt das Grundgesetz Verantwortung zwischen Staat, Eltern und Kindern? Welche Rolle spielt Schutz – und wo beginnt Bevormundung?
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“Just the Illusion of Protection”
In December 2025, Australia became the first country to introduce a statutory age limit for social media. This week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz indicated that he views similar proposals from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) with “considerable sympathy.” Beyond the detailed regulatory questions underlying such a ban – EU competences, app design, enforceability – the debate raises fundamental constitutional issues: How does the German Basic Law allocate responsibility between the state, parents, and children? What is the role of protection, and where does paternalism begin?
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Searching for Answers
In October 2025, following OpenAI’s disclosure that ChatGPT’s search feature had reached an average of 120.4 million monthly users in the EU, a Commission spokesperson confirmed that regulators are currently assessing whether ChatGPT can be designated as a Very Large Online Search Engine. The legal question is whether a service that synthesises answers rather than returning indexed links falls under Digital Services Act as an “online search engine”. The Commission should answer yes. A functional interpretation is legally mandated, economically justified, and urgently necessary.
Continue reading >>Fördertheorie und Förderpraxis
Das Bundesministerium für Bildung, Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend sieht laut Haushaltsplan im Jahr 2026 für das Programm „Demokratie-Leben!“ ein Fördervolumen in Höhe von 191 Millionen Euro vor. Auch dieses Jahr sollen die Zuwendungen aus diesem Programm zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen dabei unterstützen, die Demokratie zu stärken, Vielfalt zu fördern und Extremismus vorzubeugen. So zumindest die Theorie, denn in der Förderpraxis des Ministeriums finden sich zunehmend Versuche der inhaltlichen Mitbestimmung, Unsicherheit und ein Vergabezyklus, der nachhaltiger Demokratiearbeit im Sinne des Grundgesetzes im Weg steht.
Continue reading >>Fox in the Henhouse
Burundi has assumed the rotating presidency of the African Union at a moment when violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is escalating – and with thousands of its own troops deployed there. The Union’s institutional design neither anticipates nor restrains a chair drawn from a state directly involved in the conflict, embedding a structural tension at the heart of its peace mandate. The 2026 presidency will test whether continental leadership can rise above national security interests or whether the fox now guards the henhouse.
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Vorbild mit Nachbesserungsbedarf
Durch den Entwurf der Berliner Justizsenatorin zur verfassungsrechtlichen Absicherung des Verfassungsgerichtshofs soll dieser resilienter gemacht werden. Er greift Sorgen auf, die intensiv in der Fachöffentlichkeit diskutiert werden und reiht sich ein in Resilienzinitiativen anderer Bundesländer. Dabei macht er viel richtig, ist an einigen Stellen aber auch nachbesserungsbedürftig: Es fehlt ein Ersatzwahlmechanismus für den Fall einer Sperrminorität und auch im Haushaltsverfahren sollte das Gericht noch gestärkt werden.
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Avantgarde der Geschlechtervielfalt
Der österreichische Verfassungsgerichtshof hat kürzlich mit einem Erkenntnis zur rechtlichen Anerkennung der individuellen Geschlechtsidentität aufhorchen lassen. Darin klärt das Gericht eine zentrale Frage: ob auch Personen, die sich zwischen den Geschlechtern identifizieren, aber keine somatische Intergeschlechtlichkeit aufweisen, einen eigenen Geschlechtseintrag – wie inter und divers – erlangen oder diesen ganz streichen lassen können. Aufgrund des neuen Erkenntnisses ist dies nun möglich. Der VfGH krönt seine Judikatur zur Geschlechtervielfalt mit einem klaren Bekenntnis zur individuellen Entfaltung der Geschlechtsidentität, die durch das Grundrecht auf Privatleben geschützt ist.
Continue reading >>Text Is Not Enough
Advocate General Ćapeta’s Opinion in Case C-225/24, of 12 February 2026, clarifies that, in contexts of systemic rule-of-law deterioration, compliance cannot be measured solely by legislative text, while also explaining the constraints of discretionary power in EU fund cases. Rule-of-law compliance must be assessed through effective implementation and attention to the broader constitutional environment. The Opinion articulates an evaluative logic for EU rule-of-law governance that is particularly significant in backsliding settings and foreshadows the standards required for constitutional reconstruction after illiberal rule.
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We Own It, So We Can Break It
Standing next to Volodymyr Zelensky days before the Nicolás Maduro extraction, Donald Trump asserted, “we’re protected by a thing called the Atlantic Ocean.” His statement sounded at once naïve and antiquarian in a globalized world of cyberattacks and US worldwide presence. But it is part of the hemispheric charge moving his National Security Strategy 2025 away from the China-centric anxieties. The NSS provides keys to other elements of the administration’s foreign policy, including relations with China, Russia, and Europe; recovery of dusty spheres-of-influence and balance-of-power talk; and the focus on “Western civilization”.
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Remedies as the Real Test in The Gambia v Myanmar
The merits hearings in Application of the Genocide Convention (The Gambia v Myanmar) concluded on 29 January 2026, and the Court has entered deliberations, with the judgment date to be announced later. Commentary on this case understandably gravitates to proof, genocidal intent, and whether the ICJ will repeat the caution of its earlier genocide judgments. Those issues matter, but they can obscure a harder question: what does the Court think a genocide judgment is for? The answer is not found in abstract debates about enforceability. It is embedded in remedies.
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Has the European Parliament Shot Itself in the Foot?
After 25 years of negotiations, on 6 December 2024, the EU and four Mercosur countries – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay – reached an EU-Mercosur Agreement. The geoeconomic importance of this Agreement cannot be understated. Against this background, it came as a surprise when a narrow majority in the EP, backed by far-right and far-left parties alike, on 21 January 2026, requested an opinion on its compatibility with EU law. By contesting the legality of the Agreement, the EP risks losing a formal say over the temporal application of the “trade part” of broader mixed agreements pending ratification in the Member States.
Continue reading >>Soft Law in Hard Times
Seasoned court watchers were no doubt surprised by the English High Court’s decision to overturn the British Home Secretary’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action. For anybody even casually familiar with British courts’ approach to national security-related matters, the odds of success were not good. The judgment is certainly not a slam-dunk victory for Palestine Action and it is replete with extensive discussion condemning the actions of the group. And yet despite these admonishments, the judgment intimates at wider concerns as to the role of counter-terrorism legislation in liberal democracies
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High Thresholds and Wide Margins
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued an inadmissibility declaration in the climate case of Fliegenschnee and Others v. Austria. While an unsuccessful outcome was expected, the decision nevertheless clarifies three aspects of the Court’s climate jurisprudence. Taken together, the case shows that the Court neither demanded more than in previous cases nor reneged on its requirements as laid down in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland.
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Nationalization Nonsense
Fueled by resentment, xenophobia, and, one can assume, a growing awareness of his party’s diminishing prospects in the upcoming midterms, President Trump recently suggested that his party “nationalize” elections. As every expert to have weighed in on the matter has noted, the claim is preposterous. Simply put, the President has no direct authority over elections. While there are legitimate fears about Trump’s willingness to interfere with this Fall’s elections, he has no power to assume the control he desires.
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Peace by Chairman
Das Board of Peace, gegründet am Rande des Weltwirtschaftsforums in Davos, inszeniert sich als pragmatischer Gegenentwurf zu den Vereinten Nationen. 60 Staaten wurden zur Mitarbeit eingeladen, 21 erklärten ihre Bereitschaft zum Beitritt. In Europa überwog jedoch die Skepsis. In Deutschland ist diese Skepsis auch verfassungsrechtlich begründet: Das Board weist institutionelle Defizite auf, konzentriert Entscheidungsbefugnisse und ist nicht hinreichend an die Mitgliedstaaten rückgebunden.
Continue reading >>KI ohne Verantwortung?
Auf X Corp zeigte sich binnen weniger Tage, wie die Integration des KI-Tools Grok sexualisierte Deepfakes realer Frauen und Minderjähriger massenhaft hervorbrachte und verbreitete. Die Vorgänge verweisen nicht nur auf individuelles Fehlverhalten, sondern auf eine strukturelle Verantwortungsfrage, wenn Erzeugungs-, Verbreitungs- und Gestaltungsmacht in einer Plattform gebündelt sind. Der Fall stellt damit die dogmatische Reichweite des Strafrechts gegenüber privaten Infrastrukturbetreibern grundlegend zur Disposition – auch mit Blick auf Elon Musk als zentralen Entscheidungsträger.
Continue reading >>„In Bonn haben wir ja die Gleichberechtigung der Frau beschlossen.“
Mit der „Kampfansage “ führender SPD-Politikerinnen, die bei einer erneuten Wahlrechtsreform Vorkehrungen für eine geschlechterparitätische Besetzung des Bundestages fordern, geht die Debatte über ein paritätisches Wahlrecht in die nächste Runde. Der rechtswissenschaftliche Paritätsdiskurs hat sich hingegen in eine Sackgasse manövriert. Einen Ausweg kann eine verfassungsgeschichtliche Perspektive bieten, zumal die historische Dimension der Paritätsfrage auffällig unterbelichtet ist.
Continue reading >>Karlsruher Sicherheitskonferenz
Das Bundesverfassungsgericht hat eine von einem im Gazastreifen lebenden Palästinenser erhobene Verfassungsbeschwerde nicht zur Entscheidung angenommen. Pünktlich zur Münchener Sicherheitskonferenz konnte Karlsruhe grünes Licht geben: Die Bundesregierung hat freie Hand. Gewalt geht immer von den anderen aus: von den Amerikanern in Ramstein, von den deutschen Rüstungsfirmen, von der IDF. In der Mitte die Bundesregierung als die große Unterlassende mit einem ganz weit bemessenen Spielraum zur eigenverantwortlichen Aufgabenwahrnehmung im Bereich der auswärtigen Politik.
Continue reading >>Drawing Red Lines
Lately, there has been much talk of “red lines” in German politics. Take, for instance, the recent recommendations of the conservative think tank Republik21 on how to deal with the so-called “New Right”, according to which the “Brandmauer” policy of strict exclusion of the AfD should be replaced with differentiated red lines. CDU and CSU should in future determine their course on the basis of what is “constitutionally permissible” and what is “politically capable of commanding consent”. In other words: the question of what counts as a red line when forming majorities with the AfD, where it runs and what it separates from what, is, according to R21, something conservatives should answer by looking into the Basic Law – or into the mirror. Can that work?
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Rote Linien ziehen
Neuerdings ist viel von „roten Linien“ die Rede. So empfiehlt etwa die konservative Denkfabrik Republik21 der sogenannten bürgerlichen Politik, für den Umgang mit sogenannten neuen Rechten „rote Linien“ zu ziehen statt „Brandmauern“ zu bauen. Deren Verlauf sollten CDU und CSU künftig anhand des „verfassungsrechtlich Zulässigen“ sowie des „politisch Zustimmungsfähigen“ ermitteln. Mit anderen Worten: Die Frage, was beim Bilden von Mehrheiten mit der AfD als rote Linie gilt, wo sie verläuft und was sie wovon abgrenzt, sollen die Konservativen laut R21 durch einen Blick ins Grundgesetz bzw. in den Spiegel beantworten. Kann das funktionieren?
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Reflexive Law as Anti-Colonial Practice
The adoption of the discourse of decoloniality by the Hindu right in India, as well as by other ethnonationalist governments around the world, points to the problem that any decolonial project faces: Who is to define which normative alternatives we should appeal to when seeking to rid concepts and institutions of their colonial legacies? This brings us to the underlying question: What is the purpose of reflecting on colonial legacies in law?
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Disaster Law as Methodology
The pandemic’s disruption of offline commerce revealed how global value chains are bound up with learnt dependency, instant gratification, and an extractivist, always-on economic culture. Recent modern slavery and global value chains legislation signals political awareness, yet its legal impact remains largely symbolic, prioritising disclosure over change. The real crisis is not disruption but the normalisation of persistent exploitation inherent to global value chains. Lawyers must expose law’s role in rendering this ongoing violence as normal.
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Frontex Under Scrutiny
In the evolving landscape of EU border accountability, the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered its ruling in Hamoudi v Frontex (C-136/24 P) on 18 December 2025. This Grand Chamber decision not only reversed the General Court’s dismissal but also fundamentally recalibrated the evidentiary standards for establishing Frontex’s liability for fundamental rights violations. As FM v Frontex (T-511/24), a closely related case, awaits its judgment, Hamoudi’s legacy in establishing Frontex’s accountability and lowering the burden of proof for vulnerable migrants, promises to reshape its outcome.
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Towards an Endogenous African Constitutionalism
African constitutionalism stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution. After more than six decades of independence for most African countries, it has become imperative to examine the nature, foundations, legitimacy, and institutional architecture of the constitutional systems governing the countries making up the continent. Drawing on our different fields of research, we propose to explore pathways towards a truly endogenous constitutionalism, rooted in Africa’s socio-political, cultural, economic, and historical realities.
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Is the International Olympic Committee’s Decision to Disqualify Vladyslav Heraskevych Legal?
On 12 February 2026, Vladyslav Heraskevych had his Olympic accreditation withdrawn by the International Olympic Committee. If the Court of Arbitration for Sport takes seriously its responsibility to ensure that the IOC’s regulations and decisions imposed on Olympians are compatible with international and European human rights law, in line with the IOC’s express commitment in its Olympic Charter, it is difficult to see how it could not declare Heraskevych’s disqualification and loss of accreditation unlawful and reinstate at least the athlete’s accreditation.
Continue reading >>Liberal Constitutionalism in the Post-Colony
Liberal constitutionalism is much maligned today as, at best, a culturally contingent approach to governance, and, at worst, epistemically hubristic. Concepts like the rule of law and the separation of powers, far from expressing universal truths, are said to be inseparably tied to the European Enlightenment. Their continued presence in constitutions around the world is less an indication of their durability and more a reflection of their current status as conceptual driftwood deposited at the high-water mark of Western hegemony. But is this an accurate account of liberal constitutionalism and does it really square with our understanding of the way legal concepts are recycled between North and South?
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Zwei-Klassen-Freizügigkeit
Schon jetzt leben EU-Bürger*innen ohne Arbeitnehmerstatus in Deutschland sozial prekär: Sie haben weder bedingungslosen Zugang zu Sozialleistungen noch einen Anspruch auf Bürgergeld. In den letzten drei Monaten haben drei zentrale politische Akteure – Bundesrat, Sozialstaatskommission sowie Arbeits- und Sozialministerkonferenz – weitere Verschärfungen beschlossen, die für viele tausend EU-Zugewanderte Gesundheitsversorgung, Sozialleistungen und Kindergeld einschränken sollen. Dieses systematische Programm der Ausgrenzung und Abschottung führt unweigerlich zu massiven Diskriminierungen.
Continue reading >>Gute Behinderungen ins Töpfchen, schlechte ins Kröpfchen
Das VG Wiesbaden verweigerte einem chronisch kranken Referendar mit Konzentrationsschwierigkeiten und erhöhtem Regenerationsbedarf zusätzliche Schreibzeit, da Arbeiten unter Zeitdruck zum Kernbestandteil juristischer Prüfungen gehöre. Diese Schlussfolgerung hält den verfassungsrechtlichen Anforderungen aus Art. 3 Abs. 3 Satz 2 GG („Niemand darf wegen seiner Behinderung benachteiligt werden.“) nicht stand, weil sie bei bestimmten Behinderungen das Recht auf Nachteilsausgleiche, die bei anderen Behinderungen regelmäßig gewährt werden, vorschnell abschneidet.
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Fixed Terms Are Not the Solution
The proposal to establish fixed terms for justices of the Brazilian Supreme Court has recently returned to public debate following statements by President Lula presenting tenure reform as an institutional response to the Court’s current difficulties. The idea resurfaces cyclically whenever the Court makes mistakes. Yet the length of justices’ tenure is neither the central empirical nor the normative factor explaining today’s deficits. The possible paths forward depend far more on internal institutional corrections than on constitutional reforms imposed from outside.
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Verfassungsfeinde sind immer die Anderen
Nachdem Der Spiegel unter Berufung auf anonyme Quellen berichtet hatte, ein Bremer Rechtsanwalt, der zugleich als stellvertretendes Mitglied des Staatsgerichtshofs der Freien Hansestadt Bremen tätig ist, sei bei der Enttarnung des V-Manns Dîlan S. anwesend gewesen, forderten Vertreter:innen nahezu aller Parteien seinen Rücktritt. Der Vorgang stellt – entgegen der überwiegenden medialen Berichterstattung – keinen begründeten Skandal über die Integrität eines Richters am Staatsgerichtshof dar, sondern einen besorgniserregenden Angriff auf die Unabhängigkeit eines Landesverfassungsorgans.
Continue reading >>Launch Event of the RefLex Centre for Advanced Studies
Join us for the launch of the RefLex Centre, exploring how globalisation reshapes law, justice, and core legal concepts across disciplines. The event will feature an introduction by RefLex Directors Philipp Dann and Florian Jeßberger, a keynote lecture by Dipesh Chakrabarty, and a panel discussion with Isabella Aboderin (University of Bristol), Natalia Ángel Cabo (Constitutional Court of Colombia), Sebastian Conrad (FU Berlin), John-Mark Iyi (University of the Western Cape), and Kalika Mehta (RefLex). The event will be broadcast live here.
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International Criminal Law of “the West”?
The critique of international criminal law as “Eurocentric” or “Western-dominated,” however historically, politically, and analytically valid and necessary, may have reached the limits of its explanatory power. The following passages reflect on the question of whether continuing to frame the problems of international criminal law primarily through a Eurocentrism/West-dominated lens obscures more than it reveals, and whether we should move towards extending our critical analytical frameworks in the interests of the global majority.
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A Prematurely Hailed Victory
Last year, the CJEU issued a seminal ruling concerning cross-border recognition of same-sex marriages, obliging Poland to acknowledge such unions in the civil register. Given Poland’s legal architecture, marriage transcription alone will not enhance protection of same-sex couples. No rights granted to heterosexual couples by virtue of marriage will be conferred on same-sex couples following the transcription. For this to happen, recognition of same-sex marriages in the civil register must go in tandem with the adoption of a statutory regulation of same-sex unions.
Continue reading >>Zwischen Krisenagilität und demokratischer Legitimität
Die EU will der Ukraine ein Darlehen gewähren, damit diese ihre erhebliche Finanzierungslücke decken kann. Anstatt jedoch die eingefrorenen russischen Vermögenswerte als Reparationsdarlehen zu verwenden, hat sich die EU entschlossen, das Darlehen durch EU-Anleihen an den Kapitalmärkten zu decken. Diese – in der Sache begrüßenswerte – Entscheidung ist jedoch primärrechtlich problematisch: Je mehr die Rückzahlungsverantwortung vom Empfängerstaat weg und auf den EU-Haushalt verlagert wird, desto stärker nähert sich die Kreditaufnahme einer eigenständigen Unionsverschuldung an.
Continue reading >>International Law and the Imperial Ordering of the International
International law is an ordering language. It is predicated upon an imperial, western-centric, and hierarchical structure. It is a language of domination, of exclusion, of differentiated inclusion, but also of promise. The language of international law, which the Global South uses and appeals to, does not simply hold the promise of rectification; it also reproduces the problems it is supposed to help solve. This short reflection addresses such contradictions and how reflexivity in international law could help mitigate them.
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(Il)legalising the Destruction of the Amazon
The Amazon rainforest is vital for the ecology and agriculture of the South American continent as well as for the world’s climate. At the same time, deforestation in the Amazon is so severe that some scientists see the world’s largest rainforest as close to irreversible “tipping points”. This article will look at cattle supply chains from the Amazon to global markets and will show how law plays an ambiguous role with respect to the Amazon.
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Who Decides, Who Pays, Who is Sacrificed
The energy transition has become a central normative axis of global climate action. However, the acceleration of renewable energy, frequently presented as inherently positive, is not politically neutral. On the contrary, it unfolds asymmetrically across territories marked by deep historical power imbalances, particularly in the Global South. This article puts forward the proposition that a truly reflexive energy transition necessarily requires not only recognising harms and measuring impacts but also dismantling entrenched forms of control, authority, and epistemic hierarchy within the governance of the transition itself.
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Habeas Corpus and the Strategy of “Catch Us If You Can”
The Israeli Supreme Court has presented itself as a central guardian of democracy and the rule of law. Yet, the Court's rhetoric cannot obscure the grim reality of utter lawlessness reflected in hundreds of Supreme Court decisions over the past two years regarding Palestinians in Gaza. These rulings lack the grand rhetoric and the length of the Court’s “saving democracy and the rule of law” judgments.
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Rekonstruktion eines Phantomstraftatbestands
Ein neuer Straftatbestand wird in letzter Minute in ein laufendes Gesetzgebungsverfahren eingefügt – ohne Ankündigung, ohne öffentliche Debatte, ohne sachverständige Kontrolle. Der hastig beschlossene § 87a StGB zur Ausübung fremder Einflussnahme und der darauf gerichteten Agententätigkeit soll hybride Bedrohungen erfassen, verfehlt dieses Ziel aber dogmatisch wie praktisch. Zurück bleiben Fragen nach parlamentarischer Transparenz, demokratischer Kontrolle und dem richtigen Umgang mit Sicherheitsbedrohungen.
Continue reading >>The Bonaire Climate Case
Once again, all eyes were on The Hague. After groundbreaking rulings in the Urgenda and Shell cases, the District Court in The Hague on 28 January delivered another important climate change decision in the case of Greenpeace Netherlands v. The Netherlands (Bonaire). The court, acknowledging the contested political context in which the ruling was made, sought to square the circle of state mitigation obligations by balancing potentially far-reaching considerations about the mitigation efforts required from states like the Netherlands with an innovative procedural and dialogue-oriented remedy.
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Method in the Madness
In this article, I will critique the project of a general theory of knowledge and scholarly inquiry using the figure of reflexivity. I understand critique here as a procedure that seeks to ceaselessly subdivide its object and thereby complicate it. This specific conception of critique is restless and – crucially – self-reflexive. It must carry on endlessly and thereby be brought to bear against every distinction it has itself drawn. Against a generalised theory of knowledge and scholarly inquiry, I will contrast an historically unsettled concept of epistemology.
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On Eurocentrism
Over roughly the past decade and a half, many disciplines in the humanities and social sciences have undergone what is often described as a “global turn.” This shift starts from a historical insight into the disciplines themselves. As they are institutionalized today across universities worldwide, the modern disciplines largely took shape in nineteenth-century Europe and continue to bear the imprint of that moment of origin. Two features are particularly consequential. First, their close entanglement with the nation-state has fostered a predominantly national framing of research questions, archives, and narratives. Second, they have been shaped by Eurocentric assumptions that were deeply embedded in an age marked by imperial expansion and European global hegemony.
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Voting for Illiberalism
On 8 February 2026, Portuguese voters will decide a presidential runoff between António José Seguro, backed by the Socialist Party, and André Ventura, leader of the far-right Chega. The argument I advance here, however, is analytical rather than electoral: that this election crystallizes a confrontation between two models of democracy – one liberal, rooted in the constitutional settlement that emerged from the 1974 revolution, and one illiberal, that treats constitutional constraints as obstacles to the expression of popular will rather than as safeguards of it.
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Wenn Richter:innen schweigen
Neutralität ist das Gebot der Stunde, ob es um Regenbogenflaggen in den Büros von Bundestagsabgeordneten oder um Richterinnen mit Kopftuch. Dass Menschen sich einen neutralen Staat und insbesondere neutrale Richter:innen wünschen, ist an sich völlig nachvollziehbar und berechtigt. Das Neutralitätsgebot soll Parteilichkeit und Voreingenommenheit ausschließen und damit die Gleichbehandlung aller sicherstellen. Allerdings waren im Jahr 2025 nur noch gut die Hälfte der Befragten in Deutschland davon überzeugt, dass Gerichte alle Menschen gleich behandeln. Was läuft da also schief? Warum kann das Neutralitätsgebot seinem eigenen Anspruch nicht gerecht werden?
Continue reading >>When Judges Fall Silent
Neutrality is the buzzword of our time. It dominates debates about rainbow flags in members’ offices of the Bundestag, Germany’s federal parliament, or judges who wear a headscarf. The desire for a neutral state – and neutral judges in particular – is entirely understandable and perfectly legitimate. The principle of neutrality is meant to prevent bias and partiality and thus ensure equal treatment for all. And yet, according to a recent survey, by 2025 only just over half of respondents in Germany still believed that courts treat everyone equally. So, what is going wrong?
Continue reading >>RefLex and the Possibility of Transformative “North-South” Research Collaborations
On 20 November 2024, Humboldt University of Berlin became a signatory to the Africa Charter for Transformative Research Collaborations. This piece introduces the key argument of the Africa Charter, posits its relevance as a benchmark for RefLex, a new Centre for Advanced Studies at HU, and proposes a set of queries to guide its operationalisation within the Institute and possibly beyond in similar “North-South” initiatives. I offer these reflections drawing on my close involvement in the development of the intellectual underpinnings of the Africa Charter.
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The Code Noir as an Archive of Resistance
What does it mean to examine political modernity from below, specifically from the position of the enslaved person – not as a metaphor or a footnote, but as a lens for analyzing foundational political and legal concepts? I argue that foregrounding the position of the enslaved provides a productive point of departure for understanding how colonial and racial epistemologies, imaginaries, and institutions have shaped core Western concepts, such as democracy and the rule of law.
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The Perpetual Interim
Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor has been exercising power without a valid mandate since 2023, even after the Supreme Court explicitly declared his authority expired. What looks like a technical impasse reveals a subtler form of constitutional erosion: power entrenching itself through interim arrangements, procedural improvisation, and cultivated legal uncertainty. The Bulgarian case shows how institutional capture can advance quietly, without open defiance, constitutional rupture, or triggering the EU’s usual rule-of-law alarms.
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A Draconian Return System
Unless the European Parliament puts up a fight to eliminate or amend the worst parts of the currently circulating draft regulation on a “common system for the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the Union”, which looks unlikely, the EU may soon adopt a new approach. This draft regulation shows how far the EU has shifted towards positions of the far right, and how little it is interested in human rights and pragmatic solutions for rejected asylum seekers and other non-EU migrants.
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