Bundesverfassungsgericht

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Court and constitutional organ

The Federal Constitutional Court is both a court and a constitutional organ. It consists of two Senates with eight Justices each. One Senate is chaired by the President of the Court, the other is chaired by its Vice-President. Each Senate has its own, precisely defined competences, but officially, the decisions of each Senate are always decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court. Which of the two Senates is competent to decide follows from the Federal Constitutional Court Act and a Plenary order – a decision taken jointly by all 16 Justices. In rare cases, the Plenary itself decides a case; this is required if one Senate intends to deviate from the other Senate’s interpretation of a specific legal matter.

As a constitutional organ – and unlike the ordinary courts – the Federal Constitutional Court is not subject to administrative supervision by a ministry. The Plenary decides fundamental organisational issues; the Committee on Budgetary and Personnel Matters, which is appointed by the Plenary, draws up the draft budget of approximately EUR 36 million in 2022 and EUR 40 million in 2023. The President heads the administration of the Court and represents it to the outside world.

The workload of the Federal Constitutional Court is high. It receives more than 6,000 constitutional complaints every year. In order to deal with this high caseload, each Senate forms Chambers with three members each. These usually decide cases that are not of general constitutional significance, amounting to approximately 99 per cent of all proceedings.

Each Justice is assisted by four judicial clerks, who have gained relevant professional experience at ordinary courts, public authorities, law firms or universities. The Court also has a library of about 400,000 books, journals and databases. Managing the high workload of the Court would be impossible without the judicial officers, the staff working in the registries, the Justices’ personal secretaries, the court office, the administration, and library and IT staff. Overall, approximately 260 people ensure that the Federal Constitutional Court can fulfil its duties.

Please refer to the links below for the websites of the other constitutional organs:

Federal President: http://www.bundespraesident.de/

Bundestag: http://www.bundestag.de

Federal Government: http://www.bundesregierung.de/

Bundesrat: http://www.bundesrat.de/

Please click here for links to the websites of other courts.

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