The Impact of the German Federal Constitutional Court on Politics and Policy Output

Abstract

THE HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE OF THE SURRENDER OF LEGAL positivism to the prevalence of injustice under the nazi regime and the concern to create a real federation led the founding fathers of the Federal Republic of Germany to create the most powerful Constitutional Court in the world for the control of the formal and material constitutionality of laws.This Court, a supreme constitutional organ like the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, is organized in two chambers, called Senates. The First Senate has jurisdiction over basic rights, the Second Senate decides all questions of political disputes. Though the Court only acts on request, it does nevertheless play an active role in shaping politics and policy output. The jurisdiction of this Court is the ‘authentic interpretation of the Constitution’ and it cannot be qualified as normal jurisdiction, because many provisions of the Basic Law are open to different interpretations and call for a reference to sources and premises beyond the document itself.

Depois da “judicialização”: um mapa bibliográfico do Supremo

“…Schmitt (1929, p. 173), por exemplo, falava em "Juridifizierung der Politik". 11 e.g., Landfried, 1985. 12 "To judicialize" é "tratar judicialmente, chegar a um Aproveitando essa definição nominal, Tate formulou uma conceituação operacional 14 , "Judicialização da política" seria um fenômeno provocado sob determinada condição institucional (democracia), por certos atores (juízes) que, orientados por valores específicos (preferências políticas), engajam-se em um tipo de ação política (ativismo judicial), de modo tendencialmente crescente (configurando um processo social) 15 . Por brevidade, chamo essas dimensões de institucional, subjetiva, ideológica, atitudinal e tendencial, respectivamente.…”

National Parliaments and the ECJ: A View from the Bundestag

“…Landfried, for example, gives detailed accounts of incidents where legislative anticipation in the Bundestag of the German Federal Constitutional Court's rulings had a profound impact on the legislation that was passed. As legislators draft policy, Landfried notes that ‘politicians ask jurists to give them detailed interpretations of the decisions of the Court and sometimes the experts go in for “Karlsruhe astrology” ’ (1985, p. 528) 6…”

“…2 2 See, for example, Landfried (1984, 1985, 1988, 1995), Stone (1992), Stone Sweet (2000), Volcansek (2001) and Vanberg (2001, 2005). …”