We need to talk about the Rule of Law

Jan 24 2023 64

We need to talk about the Rule of Law Podcast artwork

Independent courts, judges who will withstand political pressure and rule against the will of the government if the law demands it. It’s called the rule of law, and as long as you have it, you rarely notice it. If you don’t have it, you’ll know what you miss – but then it’s too late. We need to talk about the rule of law because in a growing number of EU member states, the rule of law is already severely damaged - and we will all feel the consequences. We need to talk about the rule of law as Europeans, among Europeans. This is what we, Verfassungsblog and Deutscher Anwaltsverein, want to do with this podcast. Twelve weeks, twelve episodes: Every week we invite a number of high-profile political and legal actors and experts to discuss the most urgent aspects of this topic. If you want to be part of this debate, please feel warmly encouraged, do send us your question, use the hashtag #lawrules or send us a speech memo on our Instagram account (@verfassungsblog).

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#0 Trailer

Sep 16 2020 2 mins

What is our new podcast going to be about? What is the concept behind "We need to talk about the rule of law"? What do we want to achieve with this podcast? Why is this urgent? Listen to the Trailer to find out!

#1 We need to talk about Constitutional Courts

Sep 23 2020 36 mins

Constitutional courts are under attack in many countries in Europe and beyond. Why? And why now? What can be done to protect them, and what are the most important conditions for constitutional courts to function? These are the questions we discuss in the first episode of our new podcast with three guests, two of them former constitutional judges with first-hand experience on these

#2 We need to talk about Judicial Nominations

Sep 30 2020 46 mins

It's easy to agree that judicial independence is important – but who gets to be a part of the judiciary, who gets promoted to which court and who enters the highest ranks is a decision that has to be taken by someone, and a lot depends on who that someone is. Controlling judicial nominations is one of the key elements in all authoritarian takeover strategies which have been imple

#3 We need to talk about Disciplinary Proceedings

Oct 07 2020 47 mins

Judges, as all other people, sometimes misbehave. In that case, a procedure needs to be in place to examine if a sanction is required and, if so, to impose it. Disciplinary procedures, however, can be misused by an authoritarian government as blunt yet efficient tool to force the independent judiciary into submission. The most striking case in point is, once again: Poland. Judge Ig

#4 We need to talk about Procedural Law

Oct 14 2020 52 mins

Courts don't just exist. They are shaped by organisational and procedural rules which are enacted by the legislative – and can be abused accordingly. Court packing schemes and tampering with the retirement age of judges are just two examples of such abuse. On the other hand, sometimes the judiciary is indeed in need of reform, e.g. when they no longer manage to deliver judgments

#5 We need to talk about Prosecutors

Oct 22 2020 36 mins

Public prosecutors decide whether a criminal suspect is investigated. Or not. They decide whether a person is indicted and whether there will be a trial. Or not. If you control them, you can make your opponents' life miserable and let your friends run free. On the other hand: If prosecutors don't have to answer to politics at all, who will hold them accountable? This is what we dis

#6 We need to talk about Attorneys

Oct 28 2020 45 mins

Attorneys are not on everyone’s mind when they think about the rule of law. The European Commission gave a prime example for that when it remained conspicuously silent about the role of lawyers in its recent Rule of Law report. Yet, attorneys play just as important a role in preserving the rule of law as other parts of the judicial system do. What’s more: Where they are at risk

#7 We need to talk about Legal Education

Nov 04 2020 62 mins

We need to talk about legal education. As the last couple of episodes of our podcast have demonstrated, preserving the rule of law depends to a large quantity on people working in legal professions. What prosecutors, judges, attorneys, and, to a large degree, people working in the executive branch have in common, is a law degree. This means that we have to turn to legal education i

#8 We need to talk about the Penal System

Nov 11 2020 53 mins

We need to talk about the Penal System. In European Criminal Law, there largely is consensus that criminal law should be ultima ratio, that is, the last resort when the law is applied and executed. However, criminal law and the penal system at large have also proven to be an efficient way to silence political opponents and citizens turning against the government by literally barrin

#9 We need to talk about Refugees and Migration Law

Nov 18 2020 59 mins

We need to talk about refugees and migration law. In discussions about these topics, refugees and migration policy are often being treated as the other of politics and policy. But the way states treat those seeking refuge and asylum on their territory is fundamentally a rule of law issue, and actually says a lot about the current state of the rule of law there: Are refugees able to