nam 22 uu 4500 10.59704/24fde90d3ef67481 DE-Verfassungsblog cr||||| 260716s2026||||xx#|||||o|||| ||| 0|eng|| 10.59704/24fde90d3ef67481 doi eng 342 23 Schmitt-Leonardy, Charlotte Author aut When Lady Justice Lifts Her Blindfold, Briefly - France’s Appeal Court, Marine Le Pen, and the Line Between Law and Politics Schmitt-Leonardy, Charlotte Verfassungsblog 2026-07-16 Text txt rdacontent Computermedien c rdamedia Online-Ressource cr rdacarrier Justice, one could say, did not take off her blindfold on July 7th – but she did lift it, just a fraction, long enough to check in with political reality. Paris’s court of appeal upheld Marine Le Pen’s conviction for misappropriating public funds, yet softened the 2025 ban on her running for office just enough to keep a presidential bid in 2027 on the table. The guilty verdict stands – it is the sentence that now intrudes less directly into the democratic arena. CC BY-SA 4.0 France Le Pen Le Pen Marine | 1968– | Rechtsanwältin; Politikerin Marine Le Pen Presidential Elections Rule of Law elections separation of powers (DE-588)131997335 gnd Le Pen Marine | 1968– | Rechtsanwältin; Politikerin Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH Verfassungsblog 2366-7044 https://verfassungsblog.de/le-pen-ban/ raw object