Federal Constitutional Court: Richter dispute: Can Karlsruhe help the coalition?

Three weeks after the burst judge election in the Bundestag, the dispute over the occupation of three posts at the Federal Constitutional Court. A compromise between the Union and the SPD is not in sight. If this is still the case towards the end of the parliamentary summer break, the Federal Constitutional Court will have an active role. At the end of August, the Bundestag election committee will ask the Karlsruhe judges to make a proposal for the post itself, for which the Potsdam constitutional lawyer Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, controversial in the Union, will be nominated.

It is regulated in Paragraph 7a of the Federal Constitutional Court Act. Brosius-Gersdorf has been set up by the SPD for the successor of the constitutional judge Doris König, whose term of office expired at the end of June. If the Bundestag has not made a decision on the successor two months later, the oldest member of the election committee must “immediately” ask the constitutional court to make its own proposal.

Committee elder wants to follow “on time”

This task has the 67-year-old CDU politician Stefan Korbach in the twelve-member body, who is already setting up. “I will meet this obligation on time,” he said to the German Press Agency on request. The fact that the Bundestag made a decision beforehand is considered excluded. The first session after the summer break is only planned for September 10th. The coalition factions rejected a special meeting for the judge’s election.

Court helped politicians to jump in May in May

Just a few months ago, the constitutional court provided politicians to fill a judge’s post. For the constitutional judge Josef Christ, the Union actually wanted to nominate the Vice President of the Berlin Constitutional Court, Robert Seegmüller last year. The Greens did not agree with this, which was needed for the necessary two -thirds majority.

A hanging game followed. After the two -month period of two months, the election committee asked the Federal Constitutional Court shortly before the Bundestag election to make proposals for the successor of Christian. They only followed three months later after the constitution of the new Bundestag and the conclusion of government formation. The constitutional judges agreed on three names. The Federal Labritator Günter Spinner was unanimously placed in first place.

The Union finally took over the proposal and nominated spinners in the Bundestag election committee. In addition to the two SPD proposals Brosius-Gersdorf and the constitutional lawyer Ann-Katrin Kaufhold, he is now one of the three candidates who were supposed to be elected in the Bundestag on July 11th.

Suggestions of the constitutional court only collection of ideas

The suggestions of the constitutional court are in no way binding, just a collection of ideas. The decision continues with the Bundestag. “The right of the election organ to vote for a person not proposed by the Federal Constitutional Court remains unaffected,” says the law.

So far, both sides have expressed the will to reach an agreement even without help. CSU state group leader Alexander Hoffmann recently said in a dpa interview when asked whether Karlsruhe could play a role in solving the dispute: “In terms of priority, you have to say that the goal should be that we can do this in the Bundestag first.”

Hoffmann suggested in the same breath to lace up a completely new judge package. However, this was promptly blocked from both the SPD and the Greens. Since then, no new solution has been heard. The SPD wants to capture Brosius-Gersdorf, the Ugspitze cannot guarantee its choice due to the resistance of dozens of MPs.

After another three months the Federal Council comes into play

It is unclear how long the Federal Constitutional Court will take for its suggestions if it is asked to do so. The court itself did not want to comment on this: “There are no explanations of hypothetical processes,” said a spokesman on request.

In any case, a proposal from the Karlsruher will also trigger another deadline. If the Bundestag has not made a decision three months later, the Federal Council can step in. So far, the coalitioners in the Bundestag still want to prevent this. In addition, the decision -making process there should not be much easier: a two -thirds majority is also necessary in the country chamber.