18 July 2020
One day (Vandaag) …
Yes I do ... have a migration background. Yet, due to mere genetic randomness, my “Germanness” has hardly ever been challenged – at least until the moment when it comes to the correct spelling of my family name: “KHan” not “KaHn” – Dschinghis, not Oliver – please! Occasionally, I still get carried away with coquetting in my lectures: “I would be inclined to say – I am a case of successful integration.” Some students may then be slightly embarrassed, in particular after a controversial discussion about immigration policy. But that’s it basically, my personal home story about “racism”! But to be very clear and unambiguous: my father’s story is a much longer and a much more painful one! But that’s another story. Continue reading >>
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Parity laws in Germany – Caving in to Gender Backlash or Consolidating Women’s Citizenship Status?
In this contribution we examine the German developments in light of broader European debates. Though we believe that the German Basic Law can support stronger arguments for parity laws in representative political institutions, we do not need to make such stronger arguments here to defend the constitutionality of parity laws. For what is at stake is ultimately a question of legislative discretion: whether German legislatures are allowed to pass parity laws as a matter of state and federal constitutional law. Such legislative discretion is particularly appropriate where the constitutional text itself provides no clear standards, academic commentators disagree and where – as in this case – there exists a significant European trend towards adopting gender quotas with regional and international institutions repeatedly encouraging the adoption of such laws. Continue reading >>
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17 July 2020
Attacking the Bar Associations
In the midst of pandemic, thousands of attorneys-at-law in Turkey have spent days and nights for almost two weeks to protest a bill that prescribes amendments in the Advocacy Law. The bill would reduce the representation of (generally progressive) lawyers from Turkey’s big cities in the national Union of Turkish Bar Associations and furthermore allows setting up new bar associations. It is feared that this might be used to weaken the existing strong bar associations that have repeatedly criticized the government in the past on matters concerning human rights and the protection of the rule of law. Continue reading >>Der Kampf geht weiter
Die Diskussion um Parité-Gesetze, die zum Ziel haben, Frauen gleichermaßen wie Männer in den Parlamenten Platz nehmen zu lassen, zeigt wieder einmal, wie schier unerschöpflich doch das Reservoir von Gründen ist, mit denen man davon überzeugen will, dass Frauen eben doch nicht beanspruchen können, überall mit den Männern gleich zu ziehen. Continue reading >>16 July 2020
Parität in Parlamenten – eine Einführung
In einer idealen Welt bräuchte es kein Paritätsgesetz. Kandidaten würden nach politischen Motiven und ihren politischen Fähigkeiten ausgewählt, Parlamente würden im Großen und Ganzen die Bevölkerung widerspiegeln und das Geschlecht wäre kaum einer Erwähnung wert. In der politischen Realität in Deutschland und anderen Staaten sieht es anders aus. Continue reading >>Gender Parity in Parliaments – an Introduction
In an ideal world, there would be no laws mandating equal representation of men and women. Candidates for political offices would be selected according to their ability and political programs, representative bodies would roughly represent the composition of society, and the gender of the candidates would hardly be worth mentioning. In the political reality in Germany and elsewhere things are different. Continue reading >>A Groundhog Day in Brussels
16 July 2020 feels like Groundhog Day in Brussels. For those, who did not see the famous film Groundhog Day, it’s about reliving the same experience again and again until the main protagonist gets ‘why’. Similarly, the much anticipated Schrems II decision, delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) today, is almost a ‘reliving’ of its earlier decision in Schrems I. How many ‘Schrems’ are we going to have — and who is the protagonist that needs to get ‘why’? Let’s look at it all in more detail. Continue reading >>Wird der Bremer Polizei nun auf die Finger geschaut?
Die Ausweitung polizeilicher Befugnisse im neuen Bremer Polizeigesetz ist vergleichsweise moderat ausgefallen. Zahlreiche in jüngerer Zeit bundesweit publik gewordene Skandale lassen jedoch vermuten, dass der Polizeiapparat Rassismus, Sexismus, Gewaltexzesse und das Vorgehen gegen ohnehin marginalisierte Gruppen wenn nicht gar strukturell begünstigt, so doch jedenfalls deren effektive Aufklärung erschwert. Der Bremer Entwurf enthält allerdings verschiedene Instrumentarien zur Kontrolle und rechtsstaatlichen Einhegung dieser Probleme. Continue reading >>Hacking Back and International Law: An Irreconcilable Pair?
Imagine you‘re at the onset of a global pandemic, and one of the nation‘s leading hospitals falls victim to a debilitating cyberattack, crippling its medical infrastructure for days. This is exactly what happened to Brno University Hospital on March 13, then home to one of the largest COVID-19 testing facilities in the Czech Republic. Now imagine further that your national security authorities identify a command and control server through which the attackers execute the malicious cyber operation, which would end immediately if you were to hack “back” into that system to render it inoperative (this part is fiction). Technically, that would be feasible. Alas, you realise that the server is located abroad. Shouldn't you be allowed to go ahead and heroically save the nation? Continue reading >>Are These “Moral Dilemmas” Real?
Yesterday, András Jakab talked about the 'moral dilemmas' that constitutional scholars face when teaching in a country where the rule of law is eroding and illustrated some possibilities to deal with them. WOJIECH SADURSKI disagrees. Continue reading >>
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15 July 2020
The Celebration of Extra-Judicial Murders: Who’s Watching India?
Police killing and brutality have become common news in India lately, with various cases where citizens were beaten, and even killed, on account of trivial violations of the nationwide COVID-lockdown. Instead of using its resources and manpower to gather evidence and bring the accused to trial, the police in India seems to prefer the easy way of extra-judicial killings. The incidents of these killings on the very face of it seem fabricated, as eerily similar narratives are given. Since the draconian Indian Criminal Procedure Code allows the police to fatally injure a person ‘forcibly’ resisting or evading arrest, if he is accused of an offence punishable with death or life imprisonment, most of these narratives include the accused trying to evade the police or firing at it. Such killings with deliberately concocted circumstances, are in common parlance termed as ‘fake encounter’. Continue reading >>
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Moral Dilemmas of Teaching Constitutional Law in an Autocratizing Country
We often (here and here) talk about the methodological challenges that autocratizing regimes pose to constitutional scholars. However, so far we have not given enough attention to the moral dilemmas that constitutional law scholars face on a daily basis when teaching at universities that are geographically located in autocratizing countries. Constitutional law professors in such regimes are today facing moral dilemmas that they definitely did not sign up for when they originally chose their jobs. Traditionally, in continental legal cultures, university education focuses on doctrinal-conceptual legal thinking (Rechtsdogmatik) which systematizes elements of positive law (legal provisions, judicial decisions) along key concepts, with the help of doctrinal academic writings. All this presupposes a minimum level of the rule of law, and exactly this is fading away in autocratizing countries. Continue reading >>The Chinese threat we forgot about: Huawei and ISDS
During the era of coronavirus emergency, the words China and threat tend to suggest the origin of our common affliction. The world to emerge from coronavirus however will face both new challenges and the echo of old ones. An old problem is what to do about Chinese involvement in 5G infrastructure development. In light of the recent ban for Huawei equipment by the UK this post addresses the question of whether the Chinese multinational Huawei would have an investment claim against the German government were they to prohibit its participation in 5G deployment. Continue reading >>
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14 July 2020
Gegen den Verschärfungsstrom?
In den letzten Jahren haben zahlreiche Länder ihre Polizeigesetze (PolG) geändert, und das hieß: Verschärft. Die Mittel der Polizei wurden durch waffentechnische Aufrüstung und die Einführung neuer Gefahrenbegriffe bei gleichzeitiger Herabsetzung der Eingriffsschwelle stark erweitert. Die rot-grün-rote Koalition in Bremen geht einen anderen Weg. Der nunmehr vorliegende Vorschlag für ein neues PolG wird von der Opposition als „Antipolizeigesetz“ kritisiert und lässt sich wohl eher mit dem Berliner Entwurf vergleichen: Zwar sollen einerseits der Polizei mehr Befugnisse eingeräumt, auf der anderen Seite jedoch auch Einschränkungen vorgenommen und wesentliche Kontrollmechanismen eingeführt werden. Der vorliegende Beitrag gibt einen schlaglichtartigen Überblick über die geplanten Änderungen. Continue reading >>13 July 2020
Patching a gap in the EU’s system of judicial remedies
In the judgment in case C-575/18 P last week, the Court of Justice closed a hole in the EU’s system of judicial protection: it ruled that judicial review of a Commission’s claim of own resources under Regulation 1150/2000 could be obtained through an action for damages for unjust enrichment based on analogous application of Art. 268, 340 (2) TFEU. This case shines a light both on the deficiencies in the EU system of legal remedies and on the approach of the Court of Justice in addressing them. Continue reading >>
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Are They All Textualists Now?
Das Bostock-Urteil des US Supreme Court, ein bahnbrechender Erfolg für die LGBTQ-Gleichheit am Arbeitsplatz, stützt sich auf den Textualismus von Scalia. Sind am U.S. Supreme Court jetzt also alle Textualisten? Und was verheißt das für die Zukunft? Continue reading >>12 July 2020
The General Prosecutor Unbound
It is no secret that the rule of law in Bulgaria has been fragile for a long time, like in many other post-socialist states. Still, what has been going on in the last days in Bulgaria is extraordinary in a number of ways. It could be seen as an attack against the very constitutional foundations of the state. In this brief post, I will just focus on the last development concerning the disregard of the constitutional principle of the rule of law by one of the highest authorities in the state, namely the General Prosecutor. Continue reading >>
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11 July 2020
Court-Packing, Judicial Independence, and Populism
Should the US Supreme Court be reformed? Many advocate for the introduction of term limits and/or other reforms. The new “court reform” movement is interesting no matter what its actual prospects are because it seems – but we think only seems – to fall within a broad category of challenges to constitutional courts brought by populists around the world. Continue reading >>10 July 2020
Das Urheberrecht als „Zensurrecht“
Das Urheberrecht wird von der Bundesregierung genau wie von Privaten zur Unterdrückung von Presseberichterstattung eingesetzt. Es kann derart missbraucht werden, weil die Zivilgerichte bei der Prüfung eines urheberrechtlichen Unterlassungsanspruchs jenseits eines engen Ausnahmekatalogs keine einzelfallspezifische grundrechtliche Interessenabwägung vornehmen. Über 60 Jahre nach dem Lüth-Urteil ist die mittelbare Drittwirkung der Grundrechte im deutschen Urheberrecht noch nicht angekommen. Continue reading >>
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Ask the Dust
Last week, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) condemned France for violating Article 3 of the Convention, by reducing asylum seekers to destitution in such an intensity that it constitutes a degrading treatment. It asserts that the French authorities failed to fulfill their obligations under national law against three of the plaintiffs. According to the Court, the national authorities must be held responsible for the conditions in which they left the asylum seekers, who lived for months on the street, without any resources, without any access to sanitary facilities, without any means of providing for their basic needs and in the constant anguish of being attacked and robbed Continue reading >>
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No more Piecemeal Tactics
The EU’s Whistleblowing Directive is supposed to protect whistleblowers comprehensively – but its strict implementation might do just the contrary: The protection of reporting persons would end up shattered and remain insufficient. Neither national security whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden nor persons reporting sexual offences would be protected under the Directive's provisions – to name only two protection gaps. Therefore, a “1:1 implementation” as discussed by the German Government is the wrong way. Quite contrary the implementation of the Directive should be seen as a chance to enact a comprehensive and all-encompassing national whistleblowing regulation. Continue reading >>09 July 2020
In Search for an Antidote
In early January 2020, the Chinese doctor Li Wenliang became the first victim of what would soon become a global censorship pandemic. After warning colleagues about a mysterious SARS-like disease in an online chat room, Dr. Li and seven other doctors were arrested for spreading “false rumors.” Li had to sign an agreement warning of consequences if he continued his “illegal activities.” By 31 December 2019, the government forced social media platforms like YY and WeChat to censor content related to the coronavirus, Dr. Li and the government’s handling of the outbreak. Next, the regime cracked down on journalists, commentators and foreign correspondents covering the crisis. On 7 February 2020, Dr. Li died of the coronavirus. There can be little doubt that COVID-related misinformation can cause harm and panic. But censorship is a bad medicine that may well worsen rather than cure the infection of distrust and conspiracy theories. Continue reading >>
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08 July 2020
Voting in Times of a Pandemic
Last Sunday, the Croatian parliamentary elections took place. Holding the elections in the middle of a pandemic triggered a broad debate on the restrictions of the right to vote proposed by the State Electoral Commission of the Republic of Croatia (DIP) in order to protect public health. The initial voting instructions of the Commission were substantially changed a few days before the elections after the country’s Constitutional Court got involved. Before the court’s decision people who had COVID-19 were forbidden to vote. Continue reading >>
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Sächsische Verfassungsschutz-Wirrungen
n der vergangenen Woche wurde der Leiter des Sächsischen Verfassungsschutzes Gordian Meyer-Plath von seinen Aufgaben entbunden und in die Kultusverwaltung versetzt. Was als ein beamtenrechtliches Revirement erscheinen könnte, erweist sich bei näherem Hinsehen als handfester Skandal. Der Freistaat Sachsen will und kann offensichtlich nicht zugeben, neben Orten wie Dortmund, Nordhessen und Mecklenburg-Vorpommern seit Jahren eines der Zentren des Rechtsextremismus in Deutschland zu sein. Continue reading >>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. Continue reading >>
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07 July 2020
Strasbourg Steps in
In recent months, the European Court of Human Rights has communicated to the Government of the Republic of Poland several important cases concerning changes in the judiciary. Potential Strasbourg judgements may be important in containing further undermining of the independence of the judiciary and may complement measures taken at the European Union level. Continue reading >>
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Practicing Parity
On July 15, the Constitutional Court of the German Land of Thuringia will announce its decision on the fate of Thuringia’s controversial Parity Act, which was passed by Thuringia’s parliament, the Landtag, in 2019. Like Germany’s first Parity Act in Brandenburg, it requires that electoral candidate lists put forward for Landtag elections will have to consist of an equal number of alternating women and men, with the aim of increasing the share of female lawmakers. Several lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of parity legislation have been filed. While not all arguments against the parity acts are convincing, it seems likely that they will be found unconstitutional. Like in other countries, supporters of parity could in this case resort to campaigning for a constitutional amendment. Continue reading >>
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To Vote or Not to Vote?
The COVID-19 pandemic poses considerable challenges to democracies across the world. This is particularly apparent with regard to the holding of elections which states have approached in various ways. States face the following tension: On the one hand, the obligation to protect the rights to health and life requires states to limit the spread of the pandemic by reducing human-to-human contact. At the same time, these measures encroach upon the right to political participation. Against that background, an intricate balancing of the various interests in light of international human rights law seems necessary. Continue reading >>
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06 July 2020
Entgrenztes Gezwitscher
Die Follower-Zahlen der Polizeibehörden Berlin, Frankfurt und München auf Twitter können es spielend mit den Auflagen der größten deutschen Qualitätstageszeitungen aufnehmen. Das gelingt, weil polizeilicher Tätigkeit oftmals ein hoher Nachrichtenwert zukommt und sich die Behörden den Logiken der digitalen Aufmerksamkeitsökonomie hemmungslos anpassen. Doch Reichweite ist kein Selbstzweck und das eigentlich zu fördernde Institutionenvertrauen hat in der Öffentlichkeitsarbeit eine neue Bedrohung gefunden. Dabei stellt das Verfassungsrecht einige grundlegende Vorgaben auf, welche die Hatz nach dem nächsten Clou mäßigen könnten – man müsste sich nur einmal an ihnen orientieren. Continue reading >>02 July 2020
Farewell to the European Constitutional Tradition
On 1 July 2020, with Russia’s coronavirus cases passing 650,000 and following an elaborate spectacle of public affirmation, the Russian electorate eventually confirmed the constitutional amendments. First proposed by Russian president Vladimir Putin in January, the 2020 Russian Constitutional Amendments were initially planned to enter into force only three months later upon approval in an ‘all-Russian vote’ scheduled for 22 April 2020 but had to be postponed due to the spread of the coronavirus. Although many of these amendments have to be considered mainly symbolic, they constitute the most fundamental changes of Russia’s Constitution in its 26-year history. Continue reading >>
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Im Namen des Gesetzes
Die Frage, ob die grammatisch männliche Ansprache eine Frau in ihrem allgemeinen Persönlichkeitsrecht und ihren Rechten aus Art. 3 GG verletzt, bleibt vorerst weiter unbeantwortet. Die Verfassungsbeschwerde einer Sparkassenkundin, die gegen ihre Ansprache als "Kunde" in den Formularen der Bank geklagt hatte, hat das Bundesverfassungsgericht wegen Begründungsmängeln als unzulässig zurückgewiesen (Beschl. v. 26.05.2020 Az. 1 BvR 1074/18). Damit bleibt vorerst offen, ob ein Recht auf Nichtdiskriminierung durch Sprache besteht. Die Auseinandersetzung mit der Argumentation der Vorinstanz zeigt jedoch, dass in den Augen des BVerfG auch rechtliche Texte bis hin zum Grundgesetz selbst einem Sprachwandel unterworfen sein können, der gesellschaftliche Realitäten widerspiegelt. Continue reading >>Offene Fragen der (Massen)Quarantäne
Die Anordnung von Quarantäne gehört seit Beginn der Corona-Epidemie zu den Schutzmaßnahmen, mittels derer die Ausbreitung des Virus eingedämmt werden soll. In den letzten Wochen häufen sich Berichte über lokale Ausbrüche in Flüchtlings- und anderen Unterkünften und in Unternehmen (insbesondere Schlachthöfen) mit vielen (potentiellen) Infizierten. Die Behörden stellten deswegen ganze Unterkünfte, Wohnhäuser, -blocks und sogar Straßenzüge unter Quarantäne. Spätestens diese Massenquarantäne wirft viele rechtliche Fragen auf, deren Beantwortung eine verfassungswidrige Praxis offenbart. Continue reading >>01 July 2020
Children in Lockdown
Medically (while more scientific studies are necessary), COVID-19 largely seems to have little impact on children. However, children have been deeply affected by the lockdowns implemented to protect everyone else’s vulnerability. There is one issue which has so far received scant attention in the Covid-19 English-language constitutional law analysis, namely that of the ramifications of domestic lockdowns for children’s constitutional protections. Using Norway as a case study, we identify a set of issues and propose how a critique could have been articulated. Continue reading >>
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SCOTUS Aids Trump’s Drive to Autocracy
The United States Supreme Court just took a big step in that authoritarian direction in Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in a 5-4 decision. In that case, the Supreme Court created a constitutional rule that the President has the right to fire high executive branch officials for political reasons. Continue reading >>30 June 2020
Volksverhetzung gegen Frauen
Kürzlich hat das OLG Köln entschieden, dass man auch gegen Frauen Volksverhetzung begehen kann. Diese wichtige Entscheidung ist Ausfluss der Einsicht, dass Hasskriminalität eine geschlechtsbezogene Dimension besitzt. Vor allem Hate Speech im digitalen Raum richtet sich häufig gegen Frauen. Die Entscheidung des OLG Köln überträgt dies in die strafrechtliche Praxis. Betrachtet man die Entscheidung zusammen mit den in Kürze in Kraft tretenden strafgesetzlichen Änderungen zum Thema Hasskriminalität, die erstmals auch Frauen als besonders stark von Hate Speech Betroffene in den Blick nehmen, zeichnet sich daher ein Paradigmenwechsel ab. Continue reading >>Eine Roadmap für ein restriktives Abtreibungsgesetz
Mit einer knappen Entscheidung hat der US Supreme Court ein Gesetz aus Louisiana, welches den Zugang zu Abtreibung stark beschränkte, für verfassungswidrig erklärt. Die Entscheidung wurde mit Spannung erwartet, da sie die erste zum Kampfthema Abtreibungsrecht war, seit unter Präsident Trump konservative Richter die Mehrheit am Supreme Court stellen – und dies obendrein im entscheidenden Wahljahr 2020. Zwar ist das Gesetz aus Louisiana nun obsolet, aber ob das Urteil als Sieg für die liberale pro-choice-Bewegung zu bewerten ist, steht auf einem anderen Blatt. Continue reading >>Demoralisierung als Verfassungsfunktion
Bis zum 1. Juli 2020 findet nun in Russland die ursprünglich für den 22. April 2020 geplante, durch die Corona-Pandemie aber verschobene Volksabstimmung über die Verfassungsreform statt. Das Änderungsverfahren sagt viel aus über die Bedeutung der Verfassung im autoritär regierten Russland. Es zeigt auch den starken Zynismus in der russischen Verfassungspolitik und führt die Machtlosigkeit des politischen Gegners vor. Dies gilt auch für den Europarat. Continue reading >>New Salt into an Open Wound
The entry ban imposed by the Japanese government on April 3 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic has shed a new light on the somewhat “schizophrenic” situation that foreign nationals in Japan often find themselves in. While the Japanese government is slowly trying to open the labor market for foreign talent, launching internationalization campaigns at universities and building towards an international image surrounding the upcoming Olympic Games, the reality of foreign workers’ rights protection in Japan looks bleak in many respects. In fact, foreign residents in Japan still face social and legal discrimination of various kinds. Continue reading >>
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Haftung auf Umwegen
In einem fleischverarbeitenden Betrieb sowie dessen Umfeld in Rheda-Wiedenbrück stiegen die Infektionen mit COVID-19 vor kurzem explosionsartig an. Auch weil es in den Unternehmen womöglich zu Verstößen gegen Corona-Auflagen kam, kündigten mehrere Politiker an prüfen zu lassen, ob das Unternehmen herangezogen werden könne, um für die verursachten Kosten aufzukommen. Während sich die Haftung eines Unternehmens gegenüber Privaten durchaus begründen lässt, sieht es im öffentlichen Recht anders aus: Die eher unelastischen Vorschriften namentlich des Gefahrenabwehrrechts stoßen hier schnell an Grenzen, und es zeigt sich, dass das öffentliche Recht auf solche Konstellationen nicht vorbereitet ist. Continue reading >>
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29 June 2020
Frankenstein’s Court
Due to Brexit, the remaining 27 EU Member States would like to remove Eleanor Sharpston, an Advocate General nominated by the United Kingdom, from the CJEU. Many have criticized this idea, claiming that a removal would undermine the judicial independence of the Court. This post argues that the position taken by the EU 27 to remove Eleanor Sharpston from the Court is actually well-reasoned and lawful while leaving her in office would lead to strange consequences e.g. that the Judges of the Court are less protected than its Advocate Generals. Continue reading >>Homophobia Disguised as Children’s Rights in Russia’s Constitutional Referendum
From the 25th of June to the 1st of July, Russia is holding a referendum, in which citizens are asked to vote on a package of amendments to the country’s constitution. The amended constitution could enable President Putin to remain in power until 2036. State officials reportedly played down the resetting of presidential term limits. Instead, they focused on other amendments, especially those concerning faith in god, the preeminence of the Russian language, and the definition of marriage exclusively as a union between a man and a woman. Continue reading >>
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Warum so schüchtern? Über ein Unternehmensstrafgesetz, das keines sein will
Der Referentenentwurf des Verbandssanktionengesetzes (VerSanG) ist da - und er verschenkt das enorme expressive Potenzial eines neuen Unternehmensstrafrechts: Er wirkt nicht einmal von außen gefährlich – Papierkätzchen statt Papiertiger. Und darunter leidet auch die verhaltenssteuernde Wirkung. Continue reading >>28 June 2020
Faithless Electors
As the U.S. Supreme Court term draws to a close, one set of eagerly watched cases could have potential implications for the upcoming presidential election in the United States. The Court is poised to decide two cases that involve so-called “faithless” electors. Electors are the people whose votes select the President of the United States, and the electors in these cases refused to cast their votes for the presidential candidate who won the popular vote in their home states. Continue reading >>26 June 2020
No unity in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has not achieved a unified approach towards COVID-19. Rather, the crisis has exposed the transformation of the UK into nations pulling in quite different directions. This post will discuss the disunity in the British response to coronavirus, focusing on the Scottish and British governments. COVID-19 illustrates the political and legal instability of the British constitution as the country exits the European Union. Continue reading >>
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Testen zugunsten aller – und zulasten von 90 %?
„Testen, testen, testen“ – dieses Mantra effektiver Pandemiebekämpfung ist eingängig, schlüssig und seit Mitte März durch stetige Wiederholung jedem nachrichtenkonsumierenden Bundesbürger geläufig. Inzwischen wurden die Testkapazitäten ausgebaut und die Voraussetzungen um einen Test anzuordnen deutlich reduziert. Doch die Kostentragung ist kompetenzrechtlich und sozialrechtlich diskussionswürdig geregelt und wird voraussichtlich weitreichende Konsequenzen für manche Beitragszahler nach sich ziehen: Es besteht die ernste Gefahr, dass die privaten Krankenversicherungen sich nicht angemessen an den entstehenden Kosten beteiligen müssen. Continue reading >>
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“Race” and the Constitution: A South African perspective
For a South African constitutional lawyer, watching from afar, the current debate in Germany on the removal of the word “race” from section 3 of article 3 of the German Basic Law, is perplexing. In the South African context, a similar call would widely be viewed as a regressive step aimed at protecting white privilege and reinforcing the social and economic dominance of the white minority. The South African and German contexts and histories differ, and the word “race” might have different connotations in German than it has in English, but it may nevertheless be of interest to consider why the words “race”, “racial” and “non-racialism” are mentioned in several provisions of the South African Constitution. Continue reading >>25 June 2020
Loyalty vs. Sovereignty
The German Constitutional Court’s Weiss ruling has led to a major debate as to whether a national supreme court may disregard ECJ case law, asserting that the ECJ had acted ultra vires. Similar debates have existed for quite some time in the EFTA pillar of the EEA, consisting of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. A relatively small but powerful group of lawyers in the Norwegian administration (led by the Government Attorney), orthodox dualist professors and judges loyal to the government has used Norway’s dominant position to attempt to redefine EEA law. One of the most effective strategies is the suppression of the notion of loyalty or good faith and its replacement by a strategy of creating “room for manoeuvre” (“RFM”) for Norway. Continue reading >>Was ist die europäische Rechtsgemeinschaft? Nichts. Alles!
Spätestens mit dem PSPP-Urteil ist die „Rechtsgemeinschaft“ zu einem europarechtlichen Grundbegriff aufgestiegen. Die Berufung auf diesen Ausdruck ist ein theoretischer Reflexionsstop. Der Beitrag geht Sprachspielen nach und stellt aus rechtshistorischer Perspektive die These auf, dass unter „Rechtsgemeinschaft“ ein Primat der Praxis verhandelt wird. Continue reading >>
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Bringing a Hammer to the Chess Board
In cases where constitutional law is slowly losing its normative force, sophisticated doctrinal-conceptual systems (Verfassungsdogmatik) may even become ridiculous and, to some degree, dishonest. While showing a very few examples of doctrinal absurdities in a judgment of a captured and subservient constitutional court can be meaningful (also in order to corroborate the claim about its captured nature), writing a thorough doctrinal analysis on such a judgment is a futile, frustrating and meaningless exercise. A thorough doctrinal analysis can even legitimize the theater of legalism by taking seriously words which are not worth to be taken seriously. Judicial decisions of captured courts and doctrinal writings of pro-autocracy academics in these countries can be viewed as merely performative acts (as opposed to reasons). Continue reading >>24 June 2020