German lawmakers elect top court judges after ugly coalition row

By Vanity Fair FashionSeptember 25, 2025

German lawmakers on Thursday elected three new judges to the country's top court, ending a bitter dispute that had weighed heavily on Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government.

Members of the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house, approved law professor Ann-Katrin Kaufhold and administrative judge Sigrid Emmenegger - both nominated by the centre-left Social Democratic Party - and conservative nominee Günter Spinner for appointment to the Constitutional Court.

In early July, a vote to confirm a previous SPD candidate, law professor Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, was controversially postponed after conservative members of Merz's alliance refused to back her over her support for abortion rights.

Brosius-Gersdorf later withdrew her candidacy, and the SPD nominated Emmenegger instead.

To be appointed, judges needed to secure at least two-thirds of all ballots cast and more than half the votes of all 630 lawmakers in the lower house.

(L-R) Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) parliamentary group in the Bundestag Jens Spahn walks next to Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag Mathias Miersch and CSU parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag Alexander Hoffmann after a statement following the roll-call vote of judges at the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG). Michael Kappeler/dpa

Originally published by yahoo.com. Syndicated material does not necessarily reflect the views of Vanity Fair Fashion.

German lawmakers elect top court judges after ugly coalition row

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