Germany German judge candidate defends herself: I'm not ultra-left-wing
Following the failed election of three constitutional judges in the German Bundestag, Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, the constitutional law expert nominated by the Social Democrats, has rejected accusations made against her.
15.07.2025, 10:51
SDA
"The description of my person as "ultra-left" or "radical left" is defamatory and unrealistic," reads a statement by the lawyer, which she published via a law firm.
The letter is available to Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) and was first reported by ZDF and Deutschlandfunk. In it, she accuses parts of the media of reporting "inaccurate and incomplete, unobjective and non-transparent". "It was not fact-based, but was guided by the aim of preventing the election." The letter goes on to say: "Individual state officials must also accept criticism."
On Friday, the election of two new judges for Germany's highest court was removed from the Bundestag's agenda at short notice. The pressure against the lawyer Brosius-Gersdorf, who was proposed by the Social Democratic SPD, had become too great in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU). The leadership of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's parliamentary group could no longer guarantee the support agreed with its coalition partner, the SPD.
Brosius-Gersdorf continues: "If one classifies my scientific positions politically in their breadth, a picture of the democratic center emerges." One-sided attributions such as "ultra-left" and "radical left" lack a factual basis. "They are based on a selective and incomplete selection of individual topics and theses, with individual sentences taken out of context to paint a distorted picture."
For example, the claim that she has spoken out in favour of legalizing abortion and making it unpunishable until birth is inaccurate and disparaging. Brosius-Gersdorf also emphasizes that her positions on a headscarf ban and on parity models for the Bundestag elections have been inaccurately portrayed.
