Black is the New Orange
Last week, eight Anti-ICE protesters were sentenced at the Prairieland Detention Center in Texas, receiving a combined 450 years in prison. The sentencing has provoked much condemnation in Europe, and rightly so. Thirty years for moving a box of pamphlets. Fifty for showing up at a protest wearing black. Legally, the concept of terrorism has been hollowed out since the 1990s by legislation that paves the way for massive sentences for relatively banal crimes like moving a box of pamphlets.
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Vulnerable by Legal Design
Today, the deadline expires for applications under Spain’s extraordinary regularization program that made headlines around the world when announced in January 2026. Designed to provide a pathway to legal residence for hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants already present in the country, it is the largest regularization initiative in the country's history. Yet the program raises questions that extend well beyond the Spanish context. In particular, it invites reflection on the relationship between irregular status and vulnerability.
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Corporate Duty of Vigilance in Climate Litigation
On 25 June 2026, the Paris Judicial Court ruled on the adequacy of TotalEnergies’ vigilance plan. Among other things, the Court ruled that the company's Vigilance Plan must address the greenhouse gases generated through the downstream use of its products (Scope 3 emissions). The judgment simultaneously strengthens the normative content of the Duty of Vigilance while revealing the judiciary’s reluctance to fully articulate a unified framework of corporate climate responsibility.
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Compelled Decryption of a Mobile Phone
In Minteh v. France, decided in May 2026, the ECtHR held that compelling a suspect to reveal the password to a mobile phone does not violate the right against self-incrimination. And while courts across jurisdictions have adopted different frameworks, the ECtHR unanimously found no violation. In my view, rather than analyzing whether evidence exists independently of the suspect’s will, courts should explore whether the defendant is compelled to actively participate. This approach would tackle why compelling defendants to reveal their passwords is different from taking their fingerprints.
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Angewandte Modernisierung
Das VG Berlin hat die Rücknahme einer Einbürgerung wegen nachträglich bekannt gewordener Instagram-Postings mit Bezug zur Hamas im vorläufigen Rechtsschutz für offensichtlich rechtmäßig gehalten. Der Prozessvertreter hat Beschwerde angekündigt. Diese Ankündigung ist eine gute Nachricht. Denn bei diesem Fall wird es nicht bleiben. Das 2024 reformierte Staatsangehörigkeitsrecht erleichtert und verschärft das Einbürgerungsrecht zugleich. Diese Perspektive braucht mehr Differenzierung: Grundrechtspositionen sind bei der Auslegung gesetzlicher Einbürgerungsausschlüsse und Rücknahmeregelungen zu beachten – und vor diesen Schwierigkeiten stand auch das VG Berlin.
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Die übersehene Gleichheitsfrage
Ein Antrag der Fraktion Die Linke, Inländer*innen ohne deutsche Staatsangehörigkeit nach fünf Jahren rechtmäßigen Aufenthalts das Wahlrecht zu eröffnen, hat die vertraute Auseinandersetzung neu entfacht. Der vorliegende Beitrag verschiebt die Perspektive: Der dauerhafte Ausschluss von Millionen Menschen, die hier leben, ist nicht allein eine Frage demokratischer Legitimation, sondern auch ein Problem des Gleichheits- und Antidiskriminierungsrechts. Wenn man politische Teilhabe an die Staatsangehörigkeit knüpft, trifft dieser Ausschluss nahezu ausschließlich Menschen mit Migrationsgeschichte — und verdichtet sich zu einer strukturellen, intersektional wirkenden Benachteiligung.
Continue reading >>Stammheim to Stammheim
When German readers encounter the word “Stammheim”, they usually do not think of a quiet, leafy suburb in the city of Stuttgart. Instead, the name immediately evokes Germany's most notorious maximum-security prison. It conjures images of a dark chapter in Germany’s history: the era of homegrown left-wing terrorism and a state in existential crisis. Stammheim is the physical embodiment of a profound democratic dilemma: how should a constitutional democracy deal with those it considers an existential threat from within? It is highly symbolic, then, that the Stuttgart Regional Court is using this infamous high-security courtroom to try five pro-Palestinian activists, a group dubbed the “Ulm5”.
Continue reading >>Stammheim nach Stammheim
Wenn Sie „Stammheim“ lesen, denken Sie vermutlich nicht an ein beschauliches Stuttgarter Stadtviertel – sondern an ein Gefängnis. An eine dunkle Episode in der Geschichte der jungen Bundesrepublik: Terrorismus. Staatskrise. Feinde hinter Panzerglas. Stammheim ist die steingewordene Antwort auf ein historisches Dilemma: Wie muss sich der Rechtsstaat zu denen verhalten, die er als existenzielle Bedrohung von innen wahrnimmt? Bemerkenswert also, dass Stammheim im Sommer 2026 wieder einmal als Verhandlungsort in Terminkalendern auftaucht: Das Landgericht Stuttgart verhandelt dort derzeit gegen fünf Pro-Palästina-Aktivist:innen – die „Ulm5“.
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Mapping the Future
On 25 June 2026, the Paris Judicial Court became the first court to rule on the merits of Notre Affaire à Tous and others v. TotalEnergies SE. At its core, the case concerns whether TotalEnergies violated the French Commercial Code by failing to adequately report the climate risks associated with its activities and take action to mitigate those risks in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. The decision demonstrates that a domestic due diligence statute can reach the full climate footprint of a global energy major.
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Don’t Leave the President at Home
Relations between Czech President Petr Pavel and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš's government have deteriorated almost since the government took office in December 2025. A few months ago, the political conflict culminated in an unprecedented dispute over the President's participation in the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara and prompted an unusually swift intervention by the Czech Constitutional Court. After the government had tried to prevent the President from attending the NATO summit, he filed a competence complaint and a request for an interim measure on 22 June 2026. Just two days later, on 24 June 2026, the Court released its decision.
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CURRENT DEBATES
European Society After Commission v Hungary
The landmark judgment in Commission v Hungary has opened a new chapter in the history of EU law. In this decision, the CJEU not only held that Article 2 TEU can be invoked as a self-standing provision in infringement proceedings but also acknowledged the existence of a European society, in which certain values prevail – a historic first. In this symposium, we aim at showing the diverse ways in which scholars from law, philosophy, and the social sciences reflect on European society, in and beyond Commission v Hungary.
Read all articles >>Inter-Judicial Dialogue on Climate Change and Human Rights
This symposium brings together judges, practitioners, and scholars from the European, Inter-American, and African regional human rights systems to examine climate change as a human rights challenge, tracing shared legal questions, divergent doctrinal responses, and the growing importance of inter-judicial dialogue in shaping transnational climate justice.
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Volume 7,
Issue 2
July 2025
JUS COGENS
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Killing Hitler Word by Word: The Oath as Apocalyptic Lawmaking
GREGOR NOLL
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Adjudicating Climate Protest as a Tool of Modern Republicanism
DMITRII KUZNETSOV
OUR LATEST PUBLICATION
Christophe Geiger & Bernd Justin Jütte (eds.)
Enabling Access, Fostering Innovation: Towards a Digital Knowledge Agenda in Europe
Access to knowledge and information is essential to foster innovation. In the EU, existing copyright rules pose significant barriers to research and education. Instead of promoting access to knowledge resources, copyright creates legal uncertainty for researchers and educators and enables information intermediaries to exercise strict control over the use of protected works. This edited volume proposes ways out of the copyright conundrum by rethinking copyright as an access right.
Discover the Open Access digital edition here.
EDITORIAL
Stammheim to Stammheim
When German readers encounter the word “Stammheim”, they usually do not think of a quiet, leafy suburb in the city of Stuttgart. Instead, the name immediately evokes Germany's most notorious maximum-security prison. It conjures images of a dark chapter in Germany’s history: the era of homegrown left-wing terrorism and a state in existential crisis. Stammheim is the physical embodiment of a profound democratic dilemma: how should a constitutional democracy deal with those it considers an existential threat from within? It is highly symbolic, then, that the Stuttgart Regional Court is using this infamous high-security courtroom to try five pro-Palestinian activists, a group dubbed the “Ulm5”.
VB SECURITY AND CRIME
In cooperation with:
VB Security and Crime is a cooperation of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law (MPI-CSL) and the Verfassungsblog in the areas of public security law and criminal law. The MPI-CSL Institute is a member of the Max Planck Law network.