The Federal Constitutional Court is responsible for ensuring adherence to the Basic Law. Since its establishment in 1951, the Court has helped ensure respect for and give effect to Germany’s free democratic basic order. In particular, it has helped enforce fundamental rights. All state bodies are required to observe the Basic Law. The Federal Constitutional Court decides disputes arising in this context. Its decisions cannot be appealed. All other state organs are bound by its jurisprudence.

The work of the Federal Constitutional Court also has a political impact. This becomes especially clear when the Court declares legislation unconstitutional. However, the Court is not a political body – its sole standard of review is the Basic Law. The Court must not take into consideration questions of political expediency in its decisions. Rather, its task is to determine the constitutional framework within which policies can unfold. This ability to limit state power is a hallmark of modern constitutional democracy.

Justices

The Federal Constitutional Court consists of two Senates with eight Justices each. Currently, the President serves as presiding Justice of the First Senate, while the Vice-President serves as presiding Justice of the Second Senate. Both Senates form several Chambers, each of which is composed of three Justices. The 16 Justices are each assisted by four judicial clerks each.

Half of the 16 Justices of the Federal Constitutional Court are elected by the Bundestag, and half by the Bundesrat. These two bodies also take turns in electing the President and Vice-President. The fact that a two-thirds majority is required in both electoral bodies serves to ensure that the composition of the Senates is well-balanced.

At least three Justices of each Senate must be elected from among the judges of the supreme federal courts (Federal Court of Justice, Federal Administrative Court, Federal Finance Court, Federal Labour Court and Federal Social Court) so that the decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court can benefit from their special judicial experience. Anyone who is at least 40 years old and qualified to hold judicial office pursuant to the German Judiciary Act can be elected. The term of office ends after twelve years or when the retirement age of 68 is reached. To ensure their independence, Justices cannot be re-elected.

Code of Conduct for the Justices of the Federal Constitutional Court

Income of the Justices of the Federal Constitutional Court from non-judicial activities

The Justices of the First Senate

The Justices of the Second Senate

Administration

The Federal Constitutional Court’s administration comprises the judicial administration, the general administration, the IT/documentation department and the library. The Director of the Federal Constitutional Court heads the administration on behalf of the President.

Organisational chart (PDF, 346KB, File does not meet accessibility standards)

Judicial administration

The judicial administration consists of the Senate registries, the Rechtspfleger (court staff with special legal training) and the General Register, which has its own registry. 

Staff at the two Senate registries manage the Register of Proceedings and the case files. At the direction of the Justices, they handle correspondence with parties to proceedings, issue court orders (e.g. summonses) and decrees (e.g. notices of hearings), and communicate decisions to the parties. They also manage access to the case files.

The Rechtspfleger provide the cost and fee assessments and help prepare oral hearings and pronouncements of judgments. They proofread Senate judgments and other decisions of the Court and finalise the documents required to close a case.

The General Register handles constitutional complaints that, based on a preliminary assessment, cannot be admitted for decision because they are clearly inadmissible or have no prospects of success in light of the case-law of the Federal Constitutional Court. This is usually communicated to the complainants in a letter prepared by the Rechtspfleger and signed by the senior legal officers heading the General Register, who must be qualified to hold judicial office. Where appropriate, the case is transferred to the Register of Proceedings, and thus to the docket of the competent Senate.

The General Register also answers enquiries regarding pending proceedings and the jurisprudence of the Federal Constitutional Court. Moreover, it handles correspondence from individuals who wish to share their opinions with the Court.

General administration

The Court’s general administration comprises the divisions on budgetary matters (Z1), personnel (Z2) and internal matters (Z3) as well as the legal matters unit. These divisions manage the annual budget of about EUR 40 million (2023), which is a separate budget within the federal budget, and provide HR support for the approximately 270 staff members of the Court. Moreover, they perform many other Court tasks, such as handling the legal affairs of the judicial administration, organisational matters, building matters and the coordination of security measures.

IT/documentation service

A reliable and secure IT network forms the basis for all data processing. The Federal Constitutional Court uses modern information technology to support almost all processes that take place in the course of proceedings. It thereby creates the technological framework for ensuring its proper functioning and its independence. The Court’s own IT department is responsible for planning, implementing and supporting the use of information technology. This concerns both the Court’s technical infrastructure and the applications necessary for the Court’s work. In addition, the IT department ensures that external communication takes place without disruption – through secure Internet access and the maintenance of telecommunications equipment.

The documentation service records and documents decisions rendered not only by the Federal Constitutional Court, but also by the Land constitutional courts and, in individual cases, by supranational courts. It also analyses scholarship that is relevant to constitutional law. After being prepared by the documentation service, content is published in the juris database; the decisions are additionally published at www.rechtsprechung-im-internet.de.

Library

The Court’s library was set up when the Federal Constitutional Court was established in 1951. It is an academic in-house library not open to the public. It specialises in literature on public, constitutional and administrative law, the general theory of state and of society, and on politics and contemporary history.

The Baden-Württemberg Library Service Centre, a service provider for libraries, archives and museums in the Southwest German Library Network, maintains a catalogue for the network which lists all publications available at the library. Users can browse these publications using the local electronic catalogue. All the library’s books and journals are included in this catalogue, as are all essays catalogued since August 1996. At present, about 800,000 publications (including approximately 400,000 essays) are listed, making it one of the largest online legal catalogues in German-speaking countries.

Two online catalogues are available to the public: The Catalogue of the Federal Constitutional Court’s Library and the Joint Catalogue of the Federal Court of Justice, the Federal Constitutional Court and the Federal Administrative Court.

Protocol/translation/international matters

The protocol service handles the Court’s contacts with other constitutional organs and domestic institutions, and maintains and furthers its relations with constitutional courts abroad as well as with international and supranational courts. Protocol staff also regularly organise major internal and external events. The translation and international matters unit supports the Court’s international exchanges by translating press releases and decisions of the Court into English. This unit also monitors and documents legal developments in other jurisdictions and replies to enquiries from other constitutional courts.

Unit for matters relating to the European Court of Human Rights

The unit in charge of matters relating to the European Court of Human Rights promotes dialogue between the Federal Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights, for example by monitoring the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. It is the internal point of contact for questions regarding the European Convention on Human Rights. Moreover, the unit supports the Federal Constitutional Court’s cooperation within the Superior Courts Network, a network of the highest courts of the Contracting States to the Convention. This network is administered by the European Court of Human Rights and serves to facilitate the exchange of information among the courts.