German Lawmakers Back Plan to Protect Top Court From Extremists

An overview shows German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (C) as he addresses the Bundestag (Lower house of Parliament) in Berlin on Dec. 16, 2024, ahead of a no-confidence vote against him. John Macdougall/ AFP via Getty Images

German lawmakers have approved legislation they say will protect the country’s highest court against “extremist” politicians.

The measure was drawn up by the three parties in the governing coalition that collapsed last month and the mainstream conservative opposition.

In November, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he wanted to “strengthen the Federal Constitutional Court against threats from extremists and populists.”

The legislation is expected to be one of its last sessions before it is dissolved ahead of an early election in February 2025.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the government supported the cross-party initiative to prevent what she called “enemies of democracy.”

“When we look abroad we see that when autocrats come to power, they are almost always the first to turn against the effectiveness and independence of the judiciary,” she told the Bundestag.

The legislation was backed—600 votes to 69—by the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), left-wing Greens, neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP), and conservative CDU/CSU.

The right-wing, anti-illegal-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), second in most opinion polls, opposed the plans.

AfD lawmaker Stephan Brandner described the reform as a “cartel of the old parties.”

The law enshrines the structure of the Constitutional Court in the Basic Law, including the size of the 16-judge court, the judges’ 12-year term, and the mandatory retirement age of 68.

Any future government will now need a two-thirds majority to change the rules governing the court.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed the move.

“We are protecting the Constitutional Court against political interference by extremists and populists,” he wrote on X.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser attends a press conference at the German Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic, on May 3, 2024. Michal Cizek/AFP/Getty Images

Faeser has previously said that she wants to “treat right-wing extremist networks like organized crime groups.”

In February, she announced a set of plans to “fight right-wing-extremism.”

This included her plans “to safeguard the independence of the Federal Constitutional Court more strongly against the influence of anti-democratic forces.”

“Those who ridicule the government must be met with a strong government in return,” she said. “When it comes to right-wing extremists, we must leave no stone unturned.”

Welcoming the move, the German Bar Association (DAV) said that the Federal Constitutional Court can now “be better protected against obstructive blocking minorities and politically motivated attacks by the legislature.”

It added that “not only justice and courts must arm themselves against extremists” but other associations “should also deal with how they can prevent ... influence by authoritarian nationalist forces.”

President-elect Donald Trump greets Elon Musk (L) as he arrives to attend a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Brownsville, Texas, on Nov. 19, 2024. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Elon Musk, set to join President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, has championed the AfD.

“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X on Nov. 19.

On Sept. 1, the party emerged as the dominant political force in recent state elections in eastern Germany, securing nearly 33 percent of the vote in Thuringia and almost 31 percent in Saxony.

Domestic security services have treated the main AfD as a potentially extremist party since 2021, granting security services the right to keep it under surveillance. However, the party denies that it is extremist.

In response to the AfD becoming the strongest party in a federal state for the first time, Scholz urged other parties to block the party from governing.

With an election looming, parties will try to convince the electorate it can handle a difficult period as Europe’s largest economy faces its second year of contraction amid high energy prices, illegal immigration, and car factory closures struggling to compete with lower-cost Chinese electric vehicles.

According to a recent Forsa poll conducted between Dec. 10 and Dec. 16, on the German election, the CDU/CSU leads with 30 percent, followed by AfD at 19 percent and SPD at 17 percent.

The Greens are polling at 13 percent, with the FDP and left-wing populist anti-mass migration Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance both at 4 percent.

The Epoch Times reached out to the AfD for comment but received no reply by publication time.

Reuters contributed to this report.