Andreas Voßkuhle

Andreas Voßkuhle

Andreas Voßkuhle (German Unity Day 2016 in Dresden)
9th President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
Assumed office
16 March 2010
Preceded by Hans-Jürgen Papier
12th Vicepresident of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
In office
7 May 2008 – 16 March 2010
Preceded by Winfried Hassemer
Succeeded by Ferdinand Kirchhof
Personal details
Born (1963-12-21) 21 December 1963
Detmold, Germany
Nationality Germany
Spouse(s) Eva Voßkuhle
Alma mater Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Religion Reformed

Andreas Voßkuhle (born 21 December 1963 in Detmold) is a German legal scholar and the president of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.

Early life and education

Voßkuhle grew up in the small western German city of Detmold, where his father was a lawyer specializing in administrative law.[1] Baptized into Lippische Landeskirche. He started studying law at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich between 1983 and 1989. In 1989 he passed the first Staatsexamen. Before he completed the second Staatsexamen in 1993 he wrote his doctoral thesis (German title Rechtsschutz gegen den Richter) under supervision of Peter Lerche.

Career

Between 1992 and 1994, Voßkuhle was a research fellow at the chair for public law in Augsburg. Later, in 1995, he worked as a referent in the Ministry of the Interior of the Free State of Bavaria. Following his habilitation at the University of Augsburg in 1998, he became a full professor at the University of Freiburg in 1999 as well as the head of their institute for political science and the philosophy of law. At this university he held various positions, e. g. the one of the faculty director of the law faculty in the following years.

Since 2007 he is also an ordinary member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Later, in July 2007, he became the head of the University of Freiburg as well. He started to work in this position in April 2008.

In May 2008, Voßkuhle became the vice-president of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany and the chairman of its second senate. He was the second choice of the SPD, after their initial candidate, Horst Dreier, was rejected by the CDU because of his position regarding stem cell research and torture.[2] When the mandate of the former President of the Court, Hans-Jürgen Papier ended in 2010, Voßkuhle became the youngest President in the history of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.

In February 2012, Chancellor Angela Merkel offered Voßkuhle the opportunity to succeed Christian Wulff as President of Germany, after the president's resignation. He later declined the offer.[3]

Controversy

After Norbert Lammert, the President of the Bundestag, criticized the court's 2009 ruling on the Treaty of Lisbon, Voßkuhle wrote in an op-ed piece in the daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung that Lammert's statements were "strong words for a non-lawyer" and hardly served to "foster a culture of respect." Lammert eventually came around and upon "second reading" declared the court's ruling "a brilliant legal concept."[4]

Other activities

References

  1. ↑ Dietmar Hipp (September 11, 2012), Germany's Constitutional Court President: The Man Who Holds Europe's Destiny in His Hands Der Spiegel.
  2. ↑ "Bundesrat wählt Voßkuhle zum Verfassungsrichter", Tagesschau, April 25, 2008.
  3. ↑ Dietmar Hipp (September 11, 2012), Germany's Constitutional Court President: The Man Who Holds Europe's Destiny in His Hands Der Spiegel.
  4. ↑ Dietmar Hipp (September 11, 2012), Germany's Constitutional Court President: The Man Who Holds Europe's Destiny in His Hands Der Spiegel.
  5. ↑ Board of Trustees Ernst Reuter Foundation for Advanced Study.
  6. ↑ Scientific Advisory Board Fritz Thyssen Foundation.

External links

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