Germany fortifies judiciary to thwart far-right attacks

Germany’s Bundestag enshrined the rules governing its highest court in the country’s constitution on Thursday to prevent ever-stronger radical parties from attacking judicial independence in the future.

The vote came as Germany’s mainstream political leaders confront growing concerns about the strength of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is polling in second place ahead of Germany’s Feb. 23 snap election, potentially setting it up to become the largest opposition party in the next parliament.

“When we look abroad, we see that when autocrats come to power, they almost always turn against the effectiveness and independence of the judiciary first,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), said in a debate prior to the vote.

More than two-thirds of German parliamentarians voted to embed the rules in the constitution; they include limits on how many judges can sit on the court and for how long. Lawmakers said the changes were meant to bolster the court’s independence and prevent the judiciary from being hijacked as happened in Germany’s Nazi past.

The vote represented a rare point of agreement among political parties in the run-up to the country’s early election. The campaign thus far has been unusually contentious by Germany’s normally staid standards.

SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in a TV interview this week, referred to his main conservative opponent and frontrunner to become the next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, as “Fritz,” a moniker perceived as belittling. Merz’s ally, Bavarian conservative leader Markus Söder, in turn called Scholz the “most embarrassing chancellor our country [has] ever had.”

But the center-left and center-right parties agreed to put their differences aside to pass the new law. Any future government will now need a two-thirds majority to change the rules governing the court, instead of a simple majority.

The AfD is currently polling at 19 percent, well below the strength it would need to pass legislation, and most other parties have refused to work with it. But the Thursday vote expresses the stark fears of lawmakers that the AfD’s influence will only grow.

As potentially the largest opposition party in the next parliament, the AfD will benefit from a bigger platform — but the party’s power will remain limited, largely due to its isolation.

“The party will get more visibility through increased speaking time in parliament, and [will] have more money at its disposal,” said Wolfgang Schroeder, a political science professor at the University of Kassel. “But it won’t be a quantum leap.”

AfD lawmakers said the new legislation proved the court was an instrument of the political mainstream.

“You are telling an ever-increasing number of voters, citizens of our republic, that this is not their state, that this is not their constitutional court,” said AfD lawmaker Fabian Jacobi in parliament. “What you are projecting to the outside world with what you are doing here is an image of our constitutional court as an instrument of power.”

Former German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann, who led negotiations on the bill before the collapse of Scholz’s government, repeatedly cited Poland and Hungary as cautionary tales of how populist leaders, once elected, work to erode the strength and independence of the courts.

The 16 justices ruling Germany’s constitutional court currently serve 12-year terms. To assure their independence, they cannot be reelected.

The Thursday vote marked the first time the parliament has passed legislation since Scholz’s coalition fell in early November. Lawmakers were also set to approve a series of popular measures, including an increase in monthly child allowance and a reduction in creeping tax increases due to inflation.