Articles for category: Regionen

Eine Republik wird »neutralisiert«

Julia Klöckner ist seit der Bundestagswahl 2025 Präsidentin des Deutschen Bundestages. Ihrem Schutz anvertraut sind die Einhaltung der Geschäftsordnung, die Fairness der Debatten und die Ordnung des Hohen Hauses schlechthin. Außerdem hat sie „die Würde und die Rechte des Bundestages“ zu wahren. Der Präsidentin Klöckner reichten diese Schutzgüter nicht aus. Sie nahm ein weiteres in Anspruch – die politische Neutralität, die sie etwa durch bestimmte Kleidung oder das Hissen der Regenbogenflagge sieht. Doch Neutralität hat freilich einen politisch vergifteten Kontext.

23. Juli 2025

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Respect for International Law in Gaza

Since October 2023, a group of eminent Israeli international law scholars has written numerous letters and memos expressing concerns over many aspects of the Gaza war. Given the importance of these documents both in doctrinal terms and in highlighting the work of these colleagues, we have asked to publish them. So far, only one of the letters has been officially published. Readers interested in more detail can access the full text of the respective documents, which are hyperlinked and archived on Verfassungsblog.

23. Juli 2025

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Another Step in the Anti-Abortion Agenda

Trump’s recently passed “One Big, Beautiful Bill” bars Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood for one year. The provision is now temporarily blocked after Planned Parenthood filed suit. But it builds on, and must be read against, the backdrop of Medina v. Planned Parenthood, a recent and disastrous Supreme Court ruling initiated by South Carolina. The case starkly illustrates the Court’s continued alignment with an anti-abortion agenda advanced through state governments and forms part of a broader assault on civil rights. Not least, its entanglement with Medicaid signals a deeper campaign against the poor and access to healthcare.

23. Juli 2025

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The Demise of Congress

Last week, Congress passed a bill permitting deep cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting programs – just days after enacting what Donald Trump hailed as the “Big Beautiful Bill,” widely seen as a legislative disaster. Congress is increasingly surrendering its constitutional power of the purse and, with it, its institutional identity in relation to the presidency. Its collapse in favor of pure partisanship signals the breakdown of the system of checks and balances at the heart of the U.S. Constitution.

22. Juli 2025

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Sweden, Sex Work, Screens

Sweden takes its sex work ban online — but at what cost? Criminalising digital intimacy clashes with EU rights and consensus. The new law risks punishing autonomy without protecting anyone. From demand to overreach: privacy in the digital age is at stake. Copying offline laws into online spaces erodes digital freedoms.

22. Juli 2025

Halbherziger Schutz für Gaza

Nach einem anderthalbjährigen Entscheidungsstopp aufgrund einer „ungewissen Lage“ im Gazastreifen gab das Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF) am 18. Juli 2025 bekannt, wieder über Asylanträge zu entscheiden. Schutzsuchende werden nun also voraussichtlich subsidiären Schutz erhalten. Ein richtiger Schritt, allerdings werden ipso-facto Schutz und Flüchtlingseigenschaft in der behördlichen und verwaltungsgerichtlichen Praxis bislang zu Unrecht weitgehend ausgeblendet.

22. Juli 2025

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Stopping the Davids, Shielding the Goliaths

In Barbara v. Trump, an individual federal district court judge stopped the Administration’s birthright citizenship executive order nationwide. Just when the Supreme Court said this was not allowed in Trump v. CASA, a New Hampshire judge ordered universal relief, this time through a class action. There is a big difference between a nationwide injunction that benefits non-parties and a class action that benefits class members. But what they have in common is that they both empower the “little guy” to enforce the rule of law. The Supreme Court has eliminated the former and is now trying to kneecap the latter.

21. Juli 2025

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Vertrauen und Vertretbarkeit

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Das BVerfG hat mit Urteil vom 15.07.2025 eine völkerrechtliche Verantwortung Deutschlands wegen der von der US-Air-Base Ramstein geflogenen Drohnenangriffe zurückgewiesen. Dennoch bestätigt das Urteil, dass es grundrechtliche Schutzpflichten des deutschen Staates gegenüber Ausländer*innen im Ausland geben kann. Damit ist es auch für die derzeit hochumstrittenen Genehmigungen von Waffenlieferungen an Israel von großer Bedeutung.

21. Juli 2025

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Decriminalising Abortion in England and Wales

On 17 June 2025, British MPs took an important step in decriminalising abortion against a backdrop of rising prosecutions for "later" abortion. Once the amended Crime and Policing Bill becomes law, people who voluntarily end their own pregnancies will be exempt from criminalisation. But, unless a further amendment is made, those good faith actors who provide abortion, or support others in getting access, remain at risk of criminal investigation. Five aspects of the recent legal changes are worth emphasising as lessons for a strategic perspective on defending, and even expanding, reproductive freedom.

21. Juli 2025

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Suspension of EU Association Agreements Does Not Require Unanimity

In its meeting on 15 July 2025, the Council of the EU failed to adopt concrete measures vis-à-vis Israel, limiting itself to an “exchange of views on an inventory of possible follow-up measures”. This hesitant approach stands in contrast to clear indications that Israel is in breach of its human rights obligations under Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement (AA), and to the EU’s own obligation to work towards consolidating human rights and the principles of public international law pursuant to Article 21 TEU. While a suspension of the entire AA was never really foreseeable, an important question relates to the voting threshold within the Council that would apply to such a decision relating to the AA.

19. Juli 2025

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