Karlsruhe is a major city of Baden-Württemberg with nearly 300.000 inhabitants. The Germans call it the ‘Residence of Right’ because many important courts are situated in the city. Here I present you the Federal Constitutional Court.
When the Federal Constitutional Court took up ist work in Karlsruhe in 1951, the experience of the arbitrary rule of the Nazi state, which had fallen only a few years before, was still fresh in people’s minds. It was this experience which also prompted the Parliamentary Council to establish a court that would safeguard civil rights against state intrusion and serve as a ‚guardian for the constitution‘. Consequently, the newly established Federal Constitutional Court became a court of the people: transparent, opened from time to time and not monumental.