Bundestag moves to remove extremists from German judiciary

 

Admin I Friday, Feb.23, 2024

 

BERLIN – Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, passed a law late on Thursday to make it easier to remove “enemies of the constitution” from the judiciary.

The legal amendment extends the deadlines for so-called judicial impeachment. With this instrument, state parliaments or the Bundestag can request the Federal Constitutional Court to transfer a judge if there are doubts about the judge’s loyalty to the constitution.

Application to transfer a judge to another office or into retirement previously had to be submitted no later than two years after the alleged misconduct. This period has now been extended to five years.

If the judge is accused of an offence in office, disciplinary proceedings previously had to be initiated no later than six months after the end of the court proceedings in question – this is now possible up to a year afterwards.

Saxony’s Justice Minister Katja Meier said that the “judge’s indictment” is an important instrument of a defensive constitutional state.

“Enemies of the constitution have no place on the bench”, She said.

In August, an official disciplinary complaint was filed against former parliament member Jens Maier of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, who was also a judge.

The Saxony Ministry of Justice accused him of violating official duties in his former position as a judge at the Dresden Regional Court. Dresden is the capital of Saxony, a state in the east of Germany.

At the request of the Saxony Ministry of Justice, he was banned from holding the office of judge after being categorized as a right-wing extremist by Saxony’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution.