Constitutional litigation in general attracts two distinct types of conflict: disputes of a highly politicized or culturally controversial nature and requests from citizens claiming a violation of a fundamental constitutional right. The side-by-side comparison between the U.S. Supreme Court and the German Federal Constitutional Court provides a novel socio-legal approach in studying constitutional litigation, focusing on conditions of mobilisation, decision-making and implementation.

This updated and revised second edition includes a number of new contributions on the political status of the courts in their democratic political cultures.

Thomas Gawron is Lecturer in law at the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft (HTW), Berlin. He has publishedDie Wirkung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts (Co-authored with R. Rogowski 2007).

Foreword (second edition)
Ralf Rogowski and Thomas Gawron

Foreword (first edition)
Mark Tushnet

List of Illustrations
List of Tables

Chapter 1. Constitutional Litigation as Dispute Processing - Comparing the U.S. Supreme Court and the German Federal Constitutional Court
Ralf Rogowski and Thomas Gawron

PART I: ACCESS AND CASE SELECTION

Chapter 2. Constitutional Litigation in the United States
Robert A. Kagan and Gregory Elinson

Chapter 3. Access to the German Federal Constitutional Court
Werner Heun

Chapter 4. Mobilization of the German Federal Constitutional Court
Erhard Blankenburg

PART II: DECISION MAKING

Chapter 5. The U.S. Supreme Courts Strategic Decision Making Process
Timothy Johnson and Maron Sorenson

Chapter 6. Decision making at the German Federal Constitutional Court
Uwe Kranenpohl

Chapter 7. Junior Varsity Judges? Law Clerks in the Decisional Process of the U.S. Supreme Court
Artemus Ward

Chapter 8. The Legal Assistants at the German Federal Constitutional Court: A Black Box of Research?
Otwin Massing

PART III: IMPLEMENTATION

Chapter 9. The Implementation of U.S. Supreme Court Decisions
Lawrence Baum

Chapter 10. Implementation of German Federal Constitutional Court Decisions - Judicial Orders and the Federal Legislature
Thomas Gawron and Ralf Rogowski

PART IV: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES

Chapter 11. The U.S. Supreme Court and the German Federal Constitutional Court - Selection, Nomination and Election of Justices
Klaus Stüwe

Chapter 12. The Impact of the German Federal Constitutional Court on Consolidation and Quality of Democracy
Sascha Kneip

Chapter 13. Constitutional Courts in Changing Political Systems
Hans J. Lietzmann

List of Contributors
Index