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An American's View of The Federal Constitutional Court: Karlsruhe's Justices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

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Few Americans have heard of either Karlsruhe or its courts, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) and the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice). Moreover, American lawyers who walk through the unique, Enlightenment-era city center of Germany's seat of justice may be surprised. Karlsruhe's streets are neither the twisting, medieval alleyways of travel brochures that extol Europe's charms nor the grand, straight avenues of Berlin. They are evenly spaced spokes of a rational planner's superimposed wheel. When American lawyers approach the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), they find a further surprise: The court inhabits a modest, modern building. This unimposing structure is stunningly different from the U.S. Supreme Courts massive marble temple on Washington's unmistakably imperial Capitol Hill. The German court sits quietly, unobtrusively between gardens and lawns around a palace that long ago ceased to be a center of political power. Except for the handful of armed guards, one could easily mistake the court for an ordinary office building or part of the local university.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

Kommers, Donald P., The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany 289 (1997).Google Scholar
State v. Makwanyane and Another, 1995 (6) BCLR 665 (SA).Google Scholar
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978).Google Scholar
See Hopwood v. Texas, 78 F.3d 932, 942 (5th Cir. Tex. 1996), reversing Hopwood v. Texas, 861 F. Supp. 551 (W.D. Tex. 1994) (Concluding that the defendant “may not use race as a factor in law school admissions” and noting that “Justice Powells opinion has appeared to represent the ‘swing vote,‘ and though, in significant part… it was joined by no other Justice, it has played a prominent role in subsequent debates concerning the impact of Bakke.”)Google Scholar