The CDU/CSU will not elect the ultra-left-wing lawyer Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf to the Constitutional Court today. After a chaotic day in the Bundestag, the election of judges now won’t happen until September.
This follows a request by the conservative bloc of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian fellow party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), to postpone the vote on the appointment of Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf after suspicions of plagiarism were raised. Brosius-Gersdorf’s nomination was put forward by the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the smaller partner in the governing coalition.
Conservatives in the party had already expressed scepticism about her liberal stance on abortion and her support for compulsory vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Union’s move to postpone the vote has sparked outrage from the Greens and SPD, who say it undermines the legitimacy of the court. As a result, the Green Party has called for the vote on all three judges to be postponed.
The CDU this week indicated that they would support Brosius-Gersdorf, but on Friday, they said they had changed their minds after Austrian Stefan Weber, who calls himself a “plagiarism hunter,” published accusations against Brosius-Gersdorf on X on Thursday evening. Weber posted images of her doctoral dissertation side by side with a publication of her husband’s post-doctoral (or habitation) thesis, commenting:
Shared text passages and completely identical citations, including the wording, in her doctoral dissertation … and her husband’s habilitation thesis, written roughly at the same time.
A two-thirds majority is needed for judges to be elected to the high court. The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has said it would support the CDU’s candidate Günter Spinner, but not the SPD candidates.
The CDU may be reliant on AfD votes to get its candidate through, as it has so far rejected talks with the Left Party. However, votes are secret, so it will not necessarily be clear if the AfD votes are what gets Spinner across the line.
The postponement of the judges’ vote can put the German coalition in crisis. It is the second time the coalition has failed to win support in a key vote. Merz’s appointment, three months ago, failed in the first round.
The Constitutional Court is one of Germany’s most respected and influential institutions. Its decision to annul the budget contributed to the collapse of Germany’s previous government.
