Constitutional law expert Alexander Thiele welcomed the Federal Constitutional Court’s recent ruling concerning the old heating law. Telling the “Rheinische Post”, Thiele said that judicial intervention in the internal legislative process constitutes a significant intrusion on parliamentary autonomy, a measure that should only be conceivable in extreme circumstances. He noted that the Federal Constitutional Court correctly clarified this principle, while simultaneously setting very high requirements for accusations of insufficient consultation time for the opposition.
Thiele further argued that so long as the specific legislative process adheres to the rules of procedure established by the Bundestag, the issue rightly constitutes political action rather than a legal question for the judiciary to decide. Therefore, he expressed his approval of this direction of jurisprudence.
The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe had previously dismissed motions related to the former heating law-which was part of the “Ampel” government-that were brought by former CDU member Thomas Heilmann and several other plaintiffs on Thursday. The court ruled that the Basic Law does not permit general statements regarding the speed of legislative processes within the Bundestag.
