The highest German court has an important function in a democracy
Several courts have been established over the centuries to adjudicate on constitutional issues in the various German states. Whilst the Holy Roman Empire had the Imperial Chamber Court, the Weimar Constitution was interpreted by the State Court. Regardless of their name, these courts were united by the relative weakness of the powers at their disposal and could only rule on matters involving relations between the federal states and the central power. This explains why the constitutional court was unable to prevent the rise of the Third Reich. Those framing the West German constitution after 1945 saw the imperative of creating a powerful body capable of safeguarding individual rights and the democratic process. Consequently, they established the Federal Constitutional Court as an independent branch of the judiciary and granted it the same status as other supreme federal bodies, such as the Federal Government and the Bundestag. Its decisions are binding and cannot be appealed.
Half of the judges in each of the two senates making up the Federal Constitutional Court are elected by the Bundestag, and the other half by the Bundesrat. When the court opened on 28 September 1951, each senate consisted of twelve members, but this number was later reduced to eight. The court is domiciled in Karlsruhe, the former capital of the Grand Duchy of Baden, which was long considered a liberal model state. Although the court has dealt with over 200,000 constitutional complaints since its inception, only around 2% of these cases were decided in favour of the plaintiff.
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