Federal Constitutional Court
Supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany
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| 2024 | New legislative provisions were introduced to address judge nomination processes, allowing for automatic transfer of judge election rights between legislative bodies if a vacancy is not filled within three months, effectively removing potential blocking mechanisms in the Bundestag. |
| 2024 | Constitutional amendment modified the Basic Law to embed the Federal Constitutional Court's key structural details in Article 93, including the 16-judge two-senate structure, term and age limits, and court autonomy. These provisions now require a two-thirds majority of the Bundestag and Bundesrat to be changed. |
| January 2024 | Constitutional Court ruled to exclude The Homeland from public financing until 2030. |
| December 2023 | Two CDU/CSU nominated judges join the Second Senate, each with a term from December 2023 to December 2035. |
| December 2023 | Peter Frank begins his 12-year term on the Second Senate, nominated by CDU/CSU and elected by Bundesrat. |
| April 2023 | An SPD nominated judge begins a 12-year term on the First Senate, serving until April 2035. |
| February 2023 | A Greens nominated judge joins the First Senate, with a term set to last until 2033. |
| January 2023 | An FDP nominated judge joins the Second Senate, with a term from January 2023 to January 2035. |
| January 2023 | An SPD nominated judge begins a term on the Second Senate, set to serve until September 2031. |
| January 2023 | Two judges begin their terms on the Second Senate - one from SPD scheduled to retire in September 2031, and another from FDP serving a 12-year term until January 2035 |
| June 2022 | An FDP nominated judge joins the First Senate, with a term set to last until June 2033. |
| 2021 | Constitutional Court declared part of the Berlin election invalid due to violations. |
| 2021 | German Federal Constitutional Court rules on Climate Protection Act in a landmark decision, instructing the government to implement climate protection measures more equitably across generations. The case brought by Fridays for Future challenged the existing CO2-reduction goals as potentially burdening future generations unfairly. |
| July 2020 | A judge from the SPD appointed to the First Senate for a 12-year term ending in July 2032 |
| June 2020 | A Greens nominated judge joins the Second Senate, with a term from June 2020 to June 2032. |
| June 22 2020 | Stephan Harbarth, formerly a Member of the Bundestag, becomes the tenth President of the Federal Constitutional Court. |
| May 5 2020 | The Court ruled an EU act and the Weiss Judgment of the Court of Justice as 'ultra vires', indicating that the EU had exceeded its granted powers. |
| 2019 | Federal government, Bundestag, and Bundesrat jointly submitted a complaint regarding The Homeland party under Article 21(3). |
| 2018 | Court issues a decision on stadium bans, establishing higher legal requirements for excluding individuals from public events and demonstrating the principle of indirect third-party effect (Mittelbare Drittwirkung) in legal proceedings involving non-state organizations. |
| November 2018 | Stephan Harbarth appointed as President of the Court and Chairman of the First Senate, serving a 12-year term until November 2030 |
| July 2018 | A CDU/CSU nominated judge appointed to the First Senate, set to retire in May 2030 |
| 2017 | Article 21(3) added to the Basic Law, allowing the Constitutional Court to exclude parties from public financing. Second failed attempt to ban the NPD. |
| 2017 | Article 21(3) added to the Basic Law, allowing the Constitutional Court to exclude parties from public financing. |
| November 2017 | A CDU/CSU nominated judge appointed to the First Senate, set to retire in 2024 |
| September 2017 | Josef Christ was elected to the first senate of the Federal Constitutional Court, marking the first application of the new judge election procedure, succeeding Wilhelm Schluckebier. |
| November 2016 | Christine Langenfeld appointed to the First Senate with a 12-year term until July 2028, nominated by CDU/CSU and elected by Bundesrat. |
| November 2016 | A judge from the SPD appointed to the First Senate for a 12-year term ending in November 2028 |
| July 2016 | Christine Langenfeld appointed to the Second Senate by CDU/CSU, serving a 12-year term until July 2028 |
| 2015 | The Bundesverfassungsgerichtsgesetz (Federal Constitutional Court Act) was changed to require the entire Bundestag to elect judges by secret ballot, replacing the previous special committee selection process. |
| June 2014 | Doris König appointed as Vice President of the Court and Chairwoman of the Second Senate, serving until her retirement in June 2025 |
| March 18 2014 | Full publication of the Court's preliminary announcement on the ECB bond purchase case, ultimately deciding to leave final judgment to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). |
| March 18 2014 | Full publication of the preliminary announcement regarding the ECB bond purchase case. |
| February 7 2014 | The Court made a preliminary announcement regarding the ECB bond purchase case. |
| September 12 2012 | The Federal Constitutional Court examined whether the European Central Bank's bond purchase decision exceeded legal limits established by the German act approving the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). |
| March 16 2010 | Andreas Voßkuhle, former Rector of the University of Freiburg, takes office as the ninth President of the Federal Constitutional Court. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Federal Constitutional Court, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.