Bücher von Thomas Gawron

Constitutional litigation in general attracts two distinct types of conflict: disputes of a highly politicized or culturally controversial nature and requests from citizens claiming a violation of a fundamental constitutional right. The side-by-side comparison between the U.S. Supreme Court and the German Federal Constitutional Court provides a novel socio-legal approach in studying constitutional litigation, focusing on conditions of mobilisation, decision-making and implementation. This updated and revised second edition includes a number of new contributions on the political status of the courts in their democratic political cultures.

»Reforming the German Federal Constitunional Court?«: On the »seventieth birthday« of the Federal Constitutional Court, twelve lawyers and social scientists reflect on its need for reform. This compilation presents their findings in sections: An inventory state of the art first summarizes constitutional-theoretical, political-scientific, legal sociological, and historical analyses, including an attempt of a self-description by the Federal Constitutional Court. This overview is followed in the second section by contributions to the organization of the court, which examine the choice of judges, constitutional complaints, the relationship between constitutional judges and their academic staff, as well as the Institute of the Amicus Curiae for reform options. In the third section, legitimation aspects of the Federal Constitutional Court are discussed, which are currently the subject of intense discussions both among lawyers and social scientists.