Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court in Law and Politics

Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court has been one of the most successful and influential constitutional courts worldwide and a bulwark of Germany’s postwar democracy. For decades, the Court has weighed in on the most consequential issues in German public life—without being drawn into the maelstrom of partisan politics. Is that starting to change? The Bundestag recently amended the Basic Law to secure the Court’s functioning even if democratic majorities diminish. And over the summer, Germany experienced a very American-style confirmation battle that resulted in a nominee to the Court withdrawing from consideration.

We were joined by experts from both sides of the Atlantic—Humboldtian Russel Miller (GWI 2020), J.B. Stombock Professor of Law at the Washington and Lee University School of Law, and Joshua Spannaus, public law and human rights researcher at the Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen. The discussion was moderated by Humboldtian Jud Mathews (STP 2021) Professor of Law at Penn State Dickinson Law.

Russell A. Miller is the J.B. Stombock Professor of Law at Washington & Lee University, where he teaches and researches in the areas of constitutional law and comparative law. He has done extensive study of German law and legal culture, publishing often on those topics. His most recent books include An Introduction to German Law and Legal Culture (Cambridge University Press 2024) and Verfassungsorte/Constitutional Places (Kunth 2025). He studied at Washington State University (BA), Duke University (JD and MA in Literature), and the University Frankfurt (LLM). He is a two-time recipient of a Fulbright Senior Researcher Award, and in 2020 he received a Humboldt Research Prize. He is the co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the German Law Journal.

Joshua Spannaus is a research assistant at the Chair of Public Law at Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany. Under the supervision of Professor Dr. Gabriele Britz, he is currently pursuing his dissertation on a topic linked to constitutional rights. In addition, he serves as a legal assistant at a law firm in Bonn specializing in public law.

Jud Mathews is a Professor of Law at Penn State Dickinson Law with courtesy appointments in Penn State’s Department of Political Science and School of International Affairs. He is a scholar of administrative law and constitutional law. He is the author of two books published by Oxford University Press, Extending Rights’ Reach: Constitutions, Private Law, and Judicial Power, and Proportionality Balancing and Constitutional Governance: A Global and Comparative Approach (co-written with Alec Stone Sweet), as well as an administrative law casebook available for free download. He holds a JD and PhD (in political science) from Yale University. He spent the 2021-22 academic year at Berlin’s Humboldt University with the support of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.