[ad_1]
Change in the Federal Constitutional Court: Former vice president of the union faction Stephan Harbarth replaces former incumbent Andreas Voßkuhle. The Federal Council unanimously elected the 48-year-old man. The President of the Constitutional Court is the fifth man in the state in terms of protocol.
Voßkuhle is no longer part of the team after twelve years in Karlsruhe. Harbarth has been vice president of the court since late 2018. It is an unwritten law that vice takes the initiative. The former lawyer is also the President of the First Senate in Karlsruhe.
The change will take place with the appointment of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Vosskuhle’s term had actually expired on May 6. The 56-year-old man has been at the Federal Constitutional Court since 2008 and has been president since 2010.
Federal constitutional judges are, in principle, elected alternately by the Bundestag or the Bundesrat with a two-thirds majority. The same rules apply to the election of president and vice president. The parties alternatively propose a candidate. Harbarth was proposed by the Union parties in 2018.
Since 2009 he has been a member of the CDU parliament for the Rhein-Neckar constituency in the Bundestag. The family man is an honorary professor at the University of Heidelberg, where he also studied.
Frankfurt law professor Wallrabenstein takes a vacancy
The Länderkammer also voted for the vacant Voßkuhle judge seat in the Second Senate. At the suggestion of the Greens, he is succeeded by Frankfurt law professor Astrid Wallrabenstein. It was also unanimously chosen.
Once the judges are in office, they decide independently without any political commitment from the party. The mandate of the 16 constitutional judges lasts twelve years. Candidates must be at least 40 years old, have the qualifications to serve as judges, and be elected to the Bundestag.
