Constitutional Courts and Politics in the German States: Does Judicialization Exist and If So Why?

In this chapter, I examine the contribution of German state constitutional courts to the judicialization of politics in the German states. I discuss in detail an index developed by an international group of scholars of comparative politics and identify possible causes that might account for the varying strength of court rulings in the German states. In addition, I use linear regression to find links between causes and effects of judicial decision-making in sub-national constitutional courts in Germany. My results confirm institutionalist approaches to explaining how German state constitutional courts decide cases. However, I find no evidence to support the assumption that attitudinal factors (such as party affiliation) might play a role in a court’s decision-making.