Federal Constitutional Court: Sigrid Emmenegger new judge candidate

After the failed judge election for the Federal Constitutional Court and disputes in the black and red coalition, the SPD parliamentary group now proposes a new candidate for Karlsruhe: Sigrid Emmenegger. This emerges from a joint letter from the first parliamentary managing directors of the CDU and SPD star is present.

“Dr. Emmenegger can look back on a long and successful practical experience at various administrative courts and as a research assistant at the Federal Constitutional Court,” write Dirk Wiese (SPD) and Stefen Bilger (CDU).

Most recently, the SPD had repeatedly emphasized that the judge election – briefly stopped before the summer break in September. Before that, the candidate for Karlsruhe must be confirmed by the judge election committee in the Bundestag.

The SPD, since 2021 judge at the Federal Administrative Court, proposes as a replacement for Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, for which there had been no majority in the Union faction before the summer break. In personal conversations, the parliamentary group tours would have gained a “very positive” picture of Emmenegger and were convinced of their “personal and professional” suitability for the office. Further information on the procedure should therefore follow.

Before the summer break, the black and red coalition had to postpone the vote on three judge posts because the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in parts of Brosius-Gersdorf no longer wanted to agree. After a public debate lasting several weeks, Brosius-Gersdorf finally waived her candidacy.

The process had triggered a crisis in the still young coalition because the Ugspitze had only withdrawn its promise for Brosius-Gersdorf on the day of the scheduled election. In the SPD, it is also described as a mistake by Chancellor Friedrich Merz that he called the secret election a “question of conscience”. This could make future votes difficult.

The judges must be secretly elected by the parliament with a two-thirds majority. This presupposes that the coalition also has conversations with the Greens and the Left Party. However, the CDU has an incompatibility decision with the AfD and the left party, which is why conversations with the left have to be held over the SPD. The left insists as a condition for consent to direct discussions also with the Union and also want to be taken into account in future occupations for the court in Karlsruhe.

The Greens still leave approval to the personnel open. “We have also reached a name for a person to be suspended, we will now exchange ourselves promptly,” said parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann star. It was spiked about the procedure of black and red. “The fact that you are not waiting for our feedback is plenty of unprofessional in view of the history.”

SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch had said on Tuesday that he would expect the election of new judges for the Federal Constitutional Court in September.