Will Brosius-Gersdorf become a constitutional judge after all? "She's burned," says a CDU MP

There was something undignified about Julia Klöckner's interruption of the Bundestag debate at 10:17 a.m. This Friday morning, Parliament was commemorating the Srebrenica genocide; it was the 30th anniversary of the massacre, and the plenary was almost silent. The interruption was at the request of the SPD , the Bundestag President said. The Social Democrats had announced a parliamentary group meeting.

The SPD will now give up. It has decided to cancel and postpone the planned election of Frauke Borsius-Gersdorf, its candidate for a judgeship at the Federal Constitutional Court. Something like this has never happened before in the Bundestag. A coalition has agreed on candidates and has to cancel the vote. Because its own ranks are not united. How could this happen?

In the days before, Brosius-Gersdorf had become the face of the new governing coalition's first real crisis. A crisis between the CDU/CSU and the SPD that grew steadily from Monday until it escalated on Friday. It ultimately culminated in disaster. For the CDU/CSU, many of whose members rejected the lawyer, primarily because of her statements in favor of liberalizing abortion law. For the SPD, which wants to stick with Brosius-Gersdorf but is unlikely to be able to retain its candidate. "She's burned," a CDU member of parliament told the Berliner Zeitung that evening.

Behind this chaos lies an organizational failure within the CDU/CSU. Also a lack of sensitivity. Its leadership, led by parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn , underestimated the depth of the opposition to the SPD candidate's positions. Several CDU/CSU MPs say this. Be it her support for mandatory coronavirus vaccination or her statement "There are good reasons why the guarantee of human dignity only applies from birth," which is incompatible with the values ​​of many Catholic conservatives. Even major media outlets failed to recognize how charged the issue was, says a CDU politician. This applies not only to his parliamentary group, but to society as a whole. "Protecting life is not a niche issue," he says.

Right-wing conservative portals, however, have long been commenting against the lawyer. The Green Party's parliamentary group leader, Britta Haßelmann, therefore complained in the plenary session about the influence of "right-wing news portals" on the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. This can be interpreted as implying that members of the Bundestag are not adults. "There are real, explosive questions of values ​​beyond gender," the CDU/CSU stated.

The societal culture war, a term used by some CDU/CSU politicians in a by no means derogatory way, has long since gripped the CDU and CSU . But their leadership has missed it .

SPD sees “witch hunt from right-wing circles”

Meanwhile, the SPD never managed to influence the debate surrounding its candidate in any way. Now, when it's too late, it's complaining about a "smear campaign" against Brosius-Gersdorf, a "witch hunt from right-wing circles." Over the past few days, it has appeared like a powerless spectator in a looming coalition crisis. Social Democratic passivity in Germany.

The process was supposed to be unspectacular. The leaders of the CDU/CSU and SPD had agreed on three candidates for the Constitutional Court. Günter Spinner, a judge from the Federal Labor Court, who had been proposed by the members of the Federal Constitutional Court, was nominated by the CDU/CSU. Alongside Brosius-Gersdorf, who teaches at the University of Potsdam, Katrin Kaufhold from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich was to run on the SPD ticket.

All three were approved by the Bundestag's Judicial Selection Committee on Monday, clearing the way for the parliamentary vote. That's how it usually works. But ultimately, all three elections fell through because Brosius-Gersdorf was unmarketable within the CDU/CSU.

On Monday, at a CDU/CSU parliamentary group meeting, the frustration of several members of parliament erupted. It was already clear that some would not follow the line taken by Spahn and CSU regional group leader Alexander Hoffmann. Hoffmann had publicly announced that they would support Brosius-Gersdorf. In the days that followed, up until Thursday evening, the internal list of critics grew ever longer. At some point, it became clear that the required two-thirds majority of all parliamentarians present might not be achieved.

The CDU/CSU now says that many members of parliament only learned the names of the SPD candidates last week, from media reports or letters. One member of parliament reported 1,800 citizen inquiries, many of which were identical. However, he was familiar with many of the senders. Thus, certainty about the lawyers they were dealing with gradually trickled down to the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.

By then, it was already too late for a well-rounded debate. Had the CDU and CSU discussed the candidates early on, they could have proceeded similarly to what they did with Brosius-Gersdorf's doctoral supervisor, according to sources within the parliamentary group. In 2008, the CDU/CSU vetoed Horst Dreier's nomination as a judge at the Constitutional Court. His name was well known at the time, and protests erupted within the CDU and CSU, but the SPD finally relented and withdrew Dreier.

This time, things are different. The positions are more entrenched. All late attempts at mediation fail, and even in a special meeting on Friday morning, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group leadership is unable to turn the tide against the SPD candidate. Above all, however, the Social Democrats' refusal to abandon their candidate despite several talks is problematic, according to a member of the CDU/CSU. "Eat or die," was the SPD's stance, says one parliamentary group member.

On Friday morning, reports leaked to the media that the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) intended to cancel the judicial election or abstain from voting on Brosius-Gersdorf. It is foreseeable that the lawyer will not be elected as a constitutional judge that day. However, the leadership of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is not citing her positions on abortion or vaccination as a reason. Brosius-Gersdorf may have plagiarized her dissertation, they say. The previous evening, Austrian communications scholar Stefan Weber, who calls himself a "plagiarism hunter," had published an article on "23 textual parallels" between her work and her husband's habilitation thesis.

However, accusations of plagiarism did not stop the CDU from sticking with Mario Voigt as its top candidate in Thuringia. They also did not stop Friedrich Merz from remaining chancellor. Although the same "plagiarism hunter" of all people is accusing both CDU politicians of improper quoting. All just accusations, of course. But does the office of Chancellor demand less integrity than a position on the Federal Constitutional Court? Candidates must be "above all professional reproach," says Steffen Bilger, deputy leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, in the Bundestag. But in Brosius-Gersdorf's case, "in our view, this is no longer entirely the case." Especially since Weber himself does not even want to talk about accusations of plagiarism, as he told the Berliner Zeitung . That is the wording of the CDU/CSU leadership.

Is the parliamentary group leader Spahn now in jeopardy?

On Friday afternoon, shortly after 12 p.m., the Bundestag finally voted on the amendment to the judicial elections. Only the AfD parliamentary group opposed it. Laughter erupted in the ranks of the far-right party as members from the CDU/CSU to the Left Party raised their hands in unison. That's exactly where the AfD wants the conservatives.

The Bild newspaper will publish a commentary titled "This disaster has a name: Jens Spahn." Is the parliamentary group leader on the ropes after these turbulent days, in which "serious mistakes" were made, as the CDU/CSU put it?

It's almost 2 p.m. when the CDU/CSU convenes for another special session. Spahn and Bilger appeared "shocked," it was later said. Everyone knew things weren't going well for the CDU and CSU. A personnel discussion, however, isn't in sight, says one MP. But one question has concerned several colleagues. Was Britta Haßelmann of the Greens right when she said in the plenary session that the leaders of the CDU/CSU and SPD had already presented the candidate package to their parliamentary group five weeks ago, as a "joint" coalition proposal?

The CDU/CSU says they are now entering the summer recess knowing that this is true. There would have been enough time to prevent the escalation that unfolded in the Bundestag on Friday. Now they are "relieved" that there was no "showdown" over Brosius-Gersdorf's election, says one MP. And at the same time, "unfortunate" that it turned out this way.