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Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde on Constitutional Judging in a Democracy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Abstract

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This Article explores Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde's views about constitutional judging in a democracy. It offers three ideal types of constitutional judging, each drawn from the extra-judicial writings of prominent constitutional judges who represent it. The three types are: (1) the prophet, who views the constitution as visionary and value-laden, and who entertains an expansive view of the judge's role in giving voice and validity to that vision and those values; (2) the essayist, who shares the prophet's sense of the vast scope and myriad resources of constitutional judging, but who, lacking the prophet's confidence in getting such bewilderingly difficult questions right, approaches constitutional judging cautiously, skeptically, and deferentially; and (3) the executor, who views constitutional judging as the effort to discern the constitution's concrete, limited content, and to enforce that content unflinchingly. Böckenförde, the Article argues, was an executor—one who shared many interpretive commitments with the two most prominent executors in the American constitutional tradition: Hugo Black and, especially, the late Antonin Scalia.

Type
Introducing the Special Issue
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by German Law Journal, Inc. 

References

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I am unable to join in the jubilation [surrounding Heller] …. [I]t … represents a failure—the Court's failure to adhere to a conservative judicial methodology in reaching its decision. In fact, Heller encourages Americans to do what conservative jurists warned for years they should not do: by-pass the ballot and seek to press their political agenda in the courts.

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125 In these concerns, Böckenförde resembled Scalia, who bemoaned that fact that, as he saw it,Google Scholar

the American people seem to have become persuaded that the Constitution is not a fixed and limited text, but rather an all-purpose, shorthand embodiment of whatever they care deeply about … We know what we want, and if we want it passionately enough, it must be guaranteed (or if we hate it passionately enough, it must be prohibited) by the Constitution! We cannot leave such issues to be decided by the democratic process; only unimportant issues belong there. The really significant, heartfelt issues are all resolved in the Constitution, whether the text says anything about them or not.

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129 Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, Zur Kritik der Wertbegründung des Rechts, in Recht, Staat, Freiheit 67, 73 (5th ed. 2013), translated in Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, Critique of the Value-Based Grounding of Law [1990], in Constitutional and Political Theory, supra note 115, at 217.Google Scholar

130 Id. at 78–79.Google Scholar

131 Id. at 85.Google Scholar

132 Id. at 217, 227.Google Scholar

133 Id. at 84.Google Scholar

134 Id. at 84, 86.Google Scholar

135 Id. at 89.Google Scholar

136 Id. at 227.Google Scholar

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138 Böckenförde, Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit, supra note 115, at 181.Google Scholar

139 Böckenförde, Fundamental Rights as Constitutional Principles: On the Current State of Interpreting Fundamental Rights [1990], in Constitutional and Political Theory, supra note 115, at 213.Google Scholar

140 Id. at 235, 254.Google Scholar

141 Id. at 255.Google Scholar

142 Böckenförde, Critique of the Value-Based Grounding of Law [1990], in Constitutional and Political Theory, supra note 115, at 233.Google Scholar

143 See, e.g., Böckenförde, Fundamental Rights as Constitutional Principles: On the Current State of Interpreting Fundamental Rights [1990], in Constitutional and Political Theory, supra note 115, at 198, 204, 211–16; Böckenförde, Die Methoden der Verfassungsinterpretation: Bestandaufnahme und Kritik, in Wissenschaft, Politik, Verfassungsgericht, supra note 111, at 132–34, 146; Böckenförde, Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit, supra note 115, at 167.Google Scholar

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146 Id. at 132.Google Scholar

147 Id. at 133.Google Scholar

148 Id. Google Scholar

149 Böckenförde, Fundamental Rights as Constitutional Principles: On the Current State of Interpreting Fundamental Rights [1990], in Constitutional and Political Theory, supra note 115, at 211.Google Scholar

150 Id. at 252.Google Scholar

151 See generally Böckenförde, Die Methoden der Verfassungsinterpretation: Bestandaufnahme und Kritik, in Wissenschaft, Politik, Verfassungsgericht, supra note 111.Google Scholar

152 Böckenförde, Fundamental Rights as Constitutional Principles: On the Current State of Interpreting Fundamental Rights [1990], in Constitutional and Political Theory, supra note 115, at 235.Google Scholar

153 Id. at 240.Google Scholar

154 Id. at 237.Google Scholar

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156 Id. at 124.Google Scholar

157 Bahners, Im Namen des Gesetzes. Böckenförde, der Dissenter, in Voraussetzungen und Garantien des Staates supra note 126, at 176–83.Google Scholar

158 In 1976, in connection with the Court's silver anniversary, Böckenförde observed that the Court's status was “no longer questioned” and that it had “so to speak, consolidated itself.” Böckenförde, Die Methoden der Verfassungsinterpretation: Bestandaufnahme und Kritik, in Wissenschaft, Politik, Verfassungsgericht, supra note 115, at 120.Google Scholar

159 See generally Böckenförde, Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit, supra note 115; see also Böckenförde, Begriff und Probleme, supra note 115, at 134.Google Scholar

160 Böckenförde, Anmerkungen zum Begriff Verfassungswandel, in Staat, Nation, Europa, supra note 115, at 155–56.Google Scholar

161 Id. at 156.Google Scholar

162 Böckenförde, Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit – Strukturfragen, Organisation, Legitimation, in Staat, Nation, Europa, supra note 115, at 166, translated in Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, Constitutional Jurisdiction: Structure, Organization, and Legitimation [1999], in 1 Constitutional and Political Theory, supra note 115, at 192.Google Scholar

163 Id. at 190; Böckenförde, Die Methoden der Verfassungsinterpretation: Bestandaufnahme und Kritik, in Wissenschaft, Politik, Verfassungsgericht, supra note 111, at 154.Google Scholar

164 Böckenförde, Fundamental Rights as Constitutional Principles: On the Current State of Interpreting Fundamental Rights [1990], in Constitutional and Political Theory, supra note 115, at 220.Google Scholar

165 Id. at 227.Google Scholar

166 Böckenförde, Fundamental Rights as Constitutional Principles: On the Current State of Interpreting Fundamental Rights [1990], in Constitutional and Political Theory, supra note 115, at 259.Google Scholar

167 Böckenförde, Fundamental Rights as Constitutional Principles: On the Current State of Interpreting Fundamental Rights [1990], in Constitutional and Political Theory, supra note 115, at 221.Google Scholar

168 Böckenförde, Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit, supra note 115, at 168.Google Scholar

169 Böckenförde, Fundamental Rights as Constitutional Principles: On the Current State of Interpreting Fundamental Rights [1990], in Constitutional and Political Theory, supra note 115, at 259.Google Scholar

170 Id. at 221.Google Scholar

171 Id. at 265.Google Scholar

172 Böckenförde, Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit, supra note 115, at 180.Google Scholar

173 Id. Google Scholar

174 Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, Organisationsgewalt und Gesetzesvorbehalt, 53 Neue Juristische Wochenschrift [NJW] 1235, 1235 (1999).Google Scholar

175 Böckenförde, Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit, supra note 115, at 182.Google Scholar

176 Böckenförde, Die Methoden der Verfassungsinterpretation: Bestandaufnahme und Kritik, in Wissenschaft, Politik, Verfassungsgericht, supra note 111, at 147.Google Scholar

177 Böckenförde, Diskussionsbeitrag, supra note 112, at 162.Google Scholar

178 Id. Google Scholar

179 Böckenförde, Fundamental Rights as Constitutional Principles: On the Current State of Interpreting Fundamental Rights [1990], in Constitutional and Political Theory, supra note 115, at 190–91.Google Scholar

180 Böckenförde, Diskussionsbeitrag, supra note 112, at 162–65.Google Scholar

181 Id. at 165.Google Scholar

182 Id. Google Scholar

183 Böckenförde, Fundamental Rights as Constitutional Principles: On the Current State of Interpreting Fundamental Rights [1990], in Constitutional and Political Theory, supra note 115, at 257.Google Scholar

184 Part of what Böckenförde objected to in objective, values-based rights jurisprudence was its lack of foundation in history and text. See id. at 190–91.Google Scholar

185 Böckenförde, Schutzbereich, Eingriff, verfassungsimmanente Schranken: Zur Kritik gegenwärtiger Grundrechtsdogmatik, in Wissenschaft, Politik, Verfassungsgericht, supra note 111, at 241–63.Google Scholar

186 Id. at 241.Google Scholar

187 Id. Google Scholar

188 Cf. Bahners, Im Namen des Gesetzes. Böckenförde, der Dissenter, in Voraussetzungen und Garantien des Staates, supra note 126 at, 152–57.Google Scholar

189 Böckenförde, Schutzbereich, Eingriff, verfassungsimmanente Schranken: Zur Kritik gegenwärtiger Grundrechtsdogmatik, in Wissenschaft, Politik, Verfassungsgericht, supra note 111, at 242–54.Google Scholar

190 Decision of the Second Senate's Vorprüfungsausschuß of 19 March 1984, 37 Neue Juristische Wochenschrift [NJW] 1293 (1984).Google Scholar

191 Böckenförde, Schutzbereich, Eingriff, verfassungsimmanente Schranken: Zur Kritik gegenwärtiger Grundrechtsdogmatik, in Wissenschaft, Politik, Verfassungsgericht, supra note 111, at 253–55.Google Scholar

192 See Böckenförde, Ernst-Wolfgang, Das Grundrecht der Gewissensfreiheit, in Staat, Verfassung, Demokratie 200 (1991).Google Scholar

193 Bundesverfassungsgericht, Jan. 13, 1987, 74 BVerfGE 102.Google Scholar

194 Böckenförde, Schutzbereich, Eingriff, verfassungsimmanente Schranken: Zur Kritik gegenwärtiger Grundrechtsdogmatik, in Wissenschaft, Politik, Verfassungsgericht, supra note 111, at 247.Google Scholar

195 Id. at 247.Google Scholar

196 Id. at 248.Google Scholar

197 Id. at 250–51.Google Scholar

198 Id. at 250.Google Scholar

199 Id. at 253.Google Scholar

200 Id. Google Scholar

201 Id. at 254.Google Scholar

202 Scalia, The Arts, in Scalia Speaks, supra note 85, at 47; see also Scalia, The Freedom of Speech, in Scalia Speaks, supra note 85, at 202–12. The definite article in the title of the latter speech was definitely intentional. “Historical-genetic,” of course, is Böckenförde's term, not Scalia's.Google Scholar

203 See Emp't Div., Dept. of Hum. Resources of Or. v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872, 888 (1990):Google Scholar

Any society adopting such a system would be courting anarchy, but that danger increases in direct proportion to the society's diversity of religious beliefs, and its determination to coerce or suppress none of them. Precisely because “we are a cosmopolitan nation made up of people of almost every conceivable religious preference,” and precisely because we value and protect that religious divergence, we cannot afford the luxury of deeming presumptively invalid, as applied to the religious objector, every regulation of conduct that does not protect an interest of the highest order. The rule respondents favor would open the prospect of constitutionally required religious exemptions from civic obligations of almost every conceivable kind …. (internal citation omitted).

204 Böckenförde, Schutzbereich, Eingriff, verfassungsimmanente Schranken: Zur Kritik gegenwärtiger Grundrechtsdogmatik, in Wissenschaft, Politik, Verfassungsgericht, supra note 111, at 255.Google Scholar

205 Scalia, Interpreting the Constitution, in Scalia Speaks, supra note 85, at 195, 197.Google Scholar

206 Böckenförde, Schutzbereich, Eingriff, verfassungsimmanente Schranken: Zur Kritik gegenwärtiger Grundrechtsdogmatik, in Wissenschaft, Politik, Verfassungsgericht, supra note 111, at 258.Google Scholar

207 Id. at 261.Google Scholar

208 Id. at 261–62.Google Scholar

209 See my contribution, entitled “Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde in the History of the German Constitutional Court,” as well as the wonderful essays, cited above, by Christoph Schönberger and Patrick Bahners.Google Scholar

210 See, e.g., Bundesverfassungsgericht, Apr. 10, 1984, 67 BVerfGE 1, 21–25 (Böckenförde & Steinberger, J.J., dissenting); Apr. 24, 1985, 69 BVerfGE 1, 57–87 (Böckenförde & Mahrenholz, J.J., dissenting); June 22, 1995, 93 BVerfGE 121, 149–65 (Böckenförde, J., dissenting).Google Scholar

211 The most obvious example is the Second Senate's Maastricht judgment of 1993, in which the traces of Böckenförde's theory of democracy are striking. See Bundesverfassungsgericht, Oct. 12, 1993, 89 BVerfGE 155; see also Schönberger, Der Indian Summer eines liberalen Etatismus: Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde als Verfassungsrichter, in Religion, Recht, Politik. Studien zu Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, supra note 1, at 133–34.Google Scholar

212 See Schönberger, Der Indian Summer eines liberalen Etatismus: Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde als Verfassungsrichter, in Religion, Recht, Politik. Studien zu Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, supra note 1, at 126–28.Google Scholar

214 See Bahners, Im Namen des Gesetzes. Böckenförde, der Dissenter, in Voraussetzungen und Garantien des Staates supra note 126, at 181–83.Google Scholar

215 See Schönberger, Der Indian Summer eines liberalen Etatismus: Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde als Verfassungsrichter, in Religion, Recht, Politik. Studien zu Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, supra note 1, at 131.Google Scholar