This event is organised by the Constitutional Law and Politics and the Legal Theory Working Groups and hosts a discussion with EUI alumnus Prof. Mathias Möschel (Central European University) on his new book, 'Ex-Ministers as Constitutional Judges' (OUP, 2025).
Synopsis
The appointment of former politicians to constitutional courts is a global phenomenon. While ex-politician appointees may bring status, visibility, knowledge, and political awareness to the job, their previous roles may influence their assessment of the constitutionality of legislation. Ex-Ministers as Constitutional Judges sheds light on this practice in four of the world’s oldest and most established constitutional courts: Austria, France, Germany, and Italy. Weaving together legal, political, sociological, and historical sources, including press articles, surveys, and interviews with constitutional judges and high-level personnel, the book provides the first comprehensive exploration of ex-politicians becoming constitutional court judges. It analyses the advantages and disadvantages such personalities bring to constitutional courts, as well as assessing what limitations supranational law may set for such participation. Whereas the participation of ex-ministers does not seem to have posed serious structural issues to constitutional courts so far, this volume posits that the risks have been underestimated. In this context, Ex-Ministers as Constitutional Judges ultimately suggests normative steps for minimising such risks and for strengthening the independence and impartiality of constitutional courts in view of democratic and constitutional backsliding.
About the speaker
Mathias Möschel is Professor and Head of the Legal Studies Department of Central European University (CEU), Vienna (Austria). His research, teaching and publications fall broadly in the field of comparative (constitutional) law, international human rights law and non-discrimination law, mainly from a critical race theory and legal feminist perspective. Mathias Möschel has obtained his undergraduate law degree from University of Milan (Italy), has a postgraduate diploma in comparative law from the Faculté Internationale de Droit Comparé de Strasbourg (France), an LL.M. from University of California, Berkeley School of Law (United States) and a Ph.D. from the European University Institute of Florence (Italy). He has held research and teaching positions at the Ecole de droit of Sciences-Po, University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, New York University and at the Institut de Droit Comparé of University of Paris II (Panthéon-Assas). Besides his academic qualifications, he is also admitted to the New York Bar.
The book can be accessed at this link.
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