Die Haber’schen Chiffren
Mit der Kontroverse um die Streichung dreier Buchhandlungen von der Nominierungsliste für den Deutschen Buchhandelspreis ist das sogenannte Haber-Verfahren in den Fokus der öffentlichen Debatte geraten. Kulturstaatsminister Weimer hatte das Verfahren angeführt, um seine Entscheidung zu rechtfertigen, die vermeintlich linksextremen Buchhandlungen nicht auszuzeichnen, und bezeichnete ihre Betreiberinnen als „politische Extremisten“. Das Verwaltungsgericht Berlin hat ihm diese Bezeichnung nun vorläufig untersagt. Die Ausführungen des Gerichts vermitteln den Eindruck, dass es um die rechtliche Tragfähigkeit der im Haber-Verfahren erteilten Auskunft schlecht bestellt ist.
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Akten, Anfragen, Autoritarismus
Die Demokratie ist nicht erst dann in Gefahr, wenn eine autoritäre Regierung den Staat leitet. Bereits heute greifen antidemokratische Akteure den Rechtsstaat an – das zeigt sich auch im Alltag der Verwaltung: Strategische parlamentarische Anfragen, politisch aufgeladene Neutralitätsforderungen und die gezielte Delegitimierung staatlicher Institutionen sowie zivilgesellschaftlicher Organisationen setzen Behörden unter Druck. Die Exekutive wird so schon vor einer möglichen Machtübernahme autoritärer Parteien zum Schauplatz politischer Vereinnahmung.
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Mut ohne Konsequenz
Der Staat will härter gegen verdächtige Vermögen vorgehen und den Zoll zu einer mächtigen Behörde gegen Finanzkriminalität ausbauen. Doch beim neuen Einziehungsinstrument fehlt dem Gesetzentwurf die Konsequenz: Zwischen Gefahrenabwehr und Strafrecht verstrickt er sich in Widersprüche, die seine Wirkung weitgehend neutralisieren. Dazu kommen erhebliche Zweifel an der Verfassungsmäßigkeit. So droht ein ambitioniertes Vorhaben rechtlich und kriminalpolitisch zu scheitern.
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“Once the Lawyers Move In, You Know the Problem Is Serious”
Last July, the International Court of Justice delivered its unanimous advisory opinion on climate change – and it was unambiguous. Climate obligations are legal, substantive, and enforceable. Eighteen months after we first spoke with Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, Tejas Rao and Markus Gehring from the University of Cambridge about the then-upcoming opinion, we asked them to take stock of what has actually changed: in courts, in multilateral diplomacy, and in the growing coalition of states willing to move ahead without waiting for the holdouts.
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„Wenn die Juristen kommen, wird es ernst“
Letzten Juli hat der Internationale Gerichtshof sein Gutachten zum Klimawandel vorgelegt – und es war eindeutig: Klimaschutzverpflichtungen sind rechtlich verbindlich und durchsetzbar. Anderthalb Jahre nachdem wir erstmals mit Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, Tejas Rao und Markus Gehring von der Universität Cambridge über das damals bevorstehende Gutachten gesprochen hatten, haben wir nachgefragt: Was hat das Gutachten tatsächlich verändert? Und wie steht es um die globale Klimagovernance?
Continue reading >>Shopping Lists and Steppingstones
The member states of the Council of Europe today, in Chișinǎu, Moldova, have agreed on a new Declaration to reform the European Convention of Human Rights. It contains a pick-and-mix of instructions to the Court on how it should reduce the current protections, relativize absolute provisions, and give states more leeway to do what they wish in various contexts. Getting too legal and technical might, however, miss the real point of the Chișinǎu Declaration. It might better be understood as a stepping stone to hardening domestic stances on migration and creating a common political position.
Continue reading >>The Seduction of Constitutional Anti-Orthodoxy
American constitutional law treats “orthodoxy” as verboten. The concept has become a shorthand for the state imposition of belief that the First Amendment most centrally forbids. This anti-orthodoxy rhetoric is potent. It is also conceptually confused and increasingly destabilizing to contemporary First Amendment doctrine. This is especially acute in the undifferentiated and imprecise form it has assumed in cases like Chiles.
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Why the European Defence Community Can Be Revived
How can Europe respond to the rupture in transatlantic relations resulting from Donald Trump's return to the US Presidency and take defence seriously? The European Defence Community (EDC) could be an answer. In a recent blog, Robert Schütze has criticized the idea of reviving the EDC. As the senior jurists involved in the ALCIDE project, we felt compelled to respond.
Continue reading >>Federalism Against Democracy
India, as the world’s largest democracy, is facing a unique challenge in the twenty-first century in managing the relationship between democracy and federalism. How do we historically approach this face-off between the imperatives of democracy and federalism in India today? I suggest that the constitutional and political debates in late colonial India on questions of democracy and federalism show a similar face-off, which fundamentally defined postcolonial India’s shaky tryst with federalism.
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Sex Workers in the Paris Senate
Legal frameworks for remunerated sexual services often reveal a weakness in our democracies: how to protect sex workers as a marginalized group without patronizing them. A bill recently introduced in the French Senate proposes to replace the current End-Demand legislation with full decriminalization. Drafted by a mixed group of interdisciplinary researchers and sex workers of different backgrounds, the bill tackles this weakness head-on – and turned out nuanced and detailed.
Continue reading >>CURRENT DEBATES
On Law and Politics in the Hungarian Transition
The Hungarian opposition’s landslide victory has raised high expectations in Hungarian and European society. Many now expect Fidesz’s hybrid regime to be swiftly undone and constitutional democracy restored. Hungarian and European institutions therefore face a momentous task. This symposium, emerging from a three-day conference at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (MPIL), offers analysis, legal imagination, and constructive critique. It brings together views by Hungarian, Polish, and other European and international experts on the constitutional transition, the judiciary, corruption, market, media, civil society, and the role of supranational actors.
Read all articles >>Reflexive Globalisation and the Law
In October 2025, a new Centre for Advanced Studies was established at the Humboldt University of Berlin’s Law Faculty. Named “Reflexive Globalisation and the Law: Colonial Legacies and their Implications in the 21st Century” (RefLex), the Centre explores the premise that the globalisation of law and legal discourse has entered a reflexive phase: one in which law and knowledge production about law are less and less one-directional exports from or within the Global North but rather dynamic, multidirectional exchanges that confront colonial legacies, epistemic hierarchies, and enduring asymmetries of power. This blog symposium, co-edited by Philipp Dann, Florian Jeßberger, and Kalika Mehta, aims to present and extend these interactions to a broader, accessible dialogue with a wider community beyond the university setting. Featuring contributions from a range of different disciplines and regions, the symposium serves as a public prelude to its official launch, which can be watched live here.
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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
Jakob Gašperin Wischhoff, Till Stadtbäumer (eds.)
In Good Faith: Freedom of Religion under Article 10 of the EU Charter
Freedom of religion, its interaction with the prohibition of discrimination, and the self-determination of churches are embedded in a complex national and European constitutional framework and remain as pertinent and contested as ever. This edited volume examines the latest significant developments from an EU perspective, placing freedom of religion at the centre of analysis and critically assessing its operationalisation and interpretation in light of the EU Charter.
Discover the Open Access digital edition here.
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.
EDITORIAL
“Once the Lawyers Move In, You Know the Problem Is Serious”
Last July, the International Court of Justice delivered its unanimous advisory opinion on climate change – and it was unambiguous. Climate obligations are legal, substantive, and enforceable. Eighteen months after we first spoke with Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, Tejas Rao and Markus Gehring from the University of Cambridge about the then-upcoming opinion, we asked them to take stock of what has actually changed: in courts, in multilateral diplomacy, and in the
Continue reading >>„Wenn die Juristen kommen, wird es ernst“
Letzten Juli hat der Internationale Gerichtshof sein Gutachten zum Klimawandel vorgelegt – und es war eindeutig: Klimaschutzverpflichtungen sind rechtlich verbindlich und durchsetzbar. Anderthalb Jahre nachdem wir erstmals mit Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, Tejas Rao und Markus Gehring von der Universität Cambridge über das damals bevorstehende Gutachten gesprochen hatten, haben wir nachgefragt: Was hat das Gutachten tatsächlich verändert? Und wie steht es um die globale Klimagovernance?
Continue reading >>