Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, a law professor from Potsdam, withdrew her candidacy for a judgeship at the German Federal Constitutional Court on August 7, 2025.
The German Bundestag canceled the election of Brosius-Gersdorf, who had been proposed by the SPD, through votes from the Union, SPD, Greens, and Die Linke.
Brosius-Gersdorf withdrew her candidacy because the Union (CDU/CSU) signaled clearly that her election would be excluded.
The Union had criticized Brosius-Gersdorf regarding her liberal positions on abortion rights, unborn life, and her statements on climate policy and Corona.
Brosius-Gersdorf described the ban on surrogacy as an infringement of fundamental rights.
Digital campaigns and media influence
Brosius-Gersdorf told ZDFheute that debates regarding the judge selection involved digital campaigns organized and supported by various actors using AI.
She identified the AfD and new media outlets, such as Nius, as drivers of these campaigns.
The portal Nius published a headline referring to the candidate as 'Merz and the judge of horror' in relation to abortion rights.
The magazine COMPACT referred to Brosius-Gersdorf as a 'scandal lawyer' and cited 'left-wing extremist views.'
Brosius-Gersdorf stated to ZDFheute that these campaigns influenced political decision-making processes, misinformed MPs, and gained interpretive sovereignty over the selection.
She told the 'Märkische Allgemeine' that these actors and campaigns left democracy 'a bit defenseless' regarding the canceled election in July.
Responses to the selection process
Legal scholar Alexander Thiele stated that campaigns should run honestly, be based on factual grounds, and not spread defamations, claiming this was not the case during the selection.
Thiele suggested the selection process could serve as a model for future campaigns on how to influence personnel decisions by shifting focus to absurd allegations to create sentiment.
Nius head Julian Reichelt denied orchestrating or bringing about the campaigns in an interview with 'Apollo News.'
In an interview with the ARD media magazine 'ZAPP,' Reichelt stated that, in hindsight, they failed to be more critical.
Former Union parliamentary group chairman Jens Spahn, who resigned following a debate regarding his use of a US surrogate, wrote to his MPs that coalition groups were 'not well armed' against the polarization and emotionalization coming from the outside.
Proposed reforms
Brosius-Gersdorf proposed that the judge selection committee should conduct the selection again, arguing that the committee consists of specialist politicians and the judgeship is a legal rather than a political office.
Since 2015, the German Bundestag has been responsible for electing judges with a two-thirds majority.
Brosius-Gersdorf proposed that all parliamentary groups represented in the Bundestag should have the right to nominate judges for Karlsruhe, rather than the current system where only the Union, SPD, Greens, and FDP hold this right.
To address gaps in personality rights protection, she advocated for a state-distant regulatory authority for new and social media, as well as a requirement for real names on social media.
The University of Hamburg cleared Brosius-Gersdorf of plagiarism allegations, stating they were unfounded.
