Overview

• The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has documented a rise in right-wing extremist activity, prompting judges to tighten vetting standards.
• The presidents of Germany’s higher regional courts agreed at their Weimar conference to increase scrutiny of applicants’ constitutional loyalty after noting a growing number of questionable cases.
• Court leaders highlighted inconsistent state practices, with some requiring explicit loyalty declarations at application and others not, and called for a standardized process.
• Stefanie Otte of the Celle Higher Regional Court proposed expanding democracy education in traineeships to include a deeper examination of judges’ roles during the Nazi era.
• The meeting built on an October 2024 Federal Administrative Court ruling that enforced minimum loyalty requirements and upheld the rejection of a far-right ‘Der III. Weg’ member from the Bavaria traineeship program.