Hot Topics/ Cold Realities: Politics, Constitutions, and the Law

“He who saves his country does not violate any law,” President Donald Trump posted last month on social media. Since the new administration in the United States took office on January 20, many legal scholars have raised concerns over an extensive use of executive power, disregard of judicial orders, and erosion of checks and balances. This has led to questions about the role of the executive branch in shaping national policy – and whether such actions undermine the Constitution’s principles of separation of powers.

In Germany, the outgoing parliament passed amendments to the constitution which allow for deficit spending and the loosening of the so-called constitutional debt-brake, a move that is now under scrutiny in the courts. In other European countries, various policies have been introduced that challenge the rule of law, undermining judicial independence and consolidating political power.

Join 1014 and the American Council on Germany to discuss the current trends of executive power, judicial oversight, and constitutional integrity in both the United States and Europe with experts on constitutional law and comparative law Prof. Franz Mayer from the University of Bielefeld, and Prof. Russel Miller from Washington and Lee University, Virginia. The conversation will explore the implications of recent legal and political developments and their impact on democratic governance across the Atlantic.

Prof. Franz Mayer holds the Chair in Public Law, European Law, Public International Law, Comparative Law and Law and Politics at the University of Bielefeld (Law Faculty). He studied Law, Political Science and History at the Universities of Bonn and Munich, at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences-Po) and at Yale Law School. Visiting researcher Harvard Law School 2000; annual Visiting lecturer University of Warsaw since 2000; Visiting professor at Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne) 2007 and at Paris 2 (Panthéon-Assas) 2010; General Course Academy of European Law, European University Institute, Florence, 2011; Senior Emile Noël Fellow, NYU School of Law 2011; Visiting professor of Law at Columbia Law School Winter term 2012/2013; Short Term International Visiting Professor of Law at Columbia Law School Fall term 2024 (non-resident).

Professor Mayer was Counsel in proceedings at the German Constitutional Court to the German Parliament in the Treaty of Lisbon-trial in 2008-2009 and in the first case related to the Euro-crisis, the case on the Euro stabilization mechanism 2010-2012, his most recent case for the German Parliament was the Next Generation EU-case on the €800 billion temporary recovery instrument (2021-2022). He was Counsel at the German Constitutional Court to the German government in the CETA case (2016-2022) and in the case on the Unified European Patent Court (2017-2020). His most recent case for the German government concerns the constitutionality of the new EP election law (2023-2024). In 2023, he was part of a Franco-German Group of 12 experts invited by the German and the French minister for Europe to write a report on institutional reform of the EU.

His teaching and research interests focus on European constitutional and administrative law, on comparative law, on the relationship between European law and politics, on parliaments in times of globalization, on internet law, sports law (European soccer law) and more generally on international law and public law. Since 2016, he has been a member of the German Football Association’s Federal Court (DFB Bundesgericht), ethics chamber. He has dual French and German citizenship and lives in Berlin with his family.

Professor Russell Miller joined the Washington and Lee law faculty in 2008. His teaching and scholarly research focuses on public law subjects (Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, International Law), Comparative Law Theory and Methods, and German Law and Legal Culture. Previously, he taught at the University of Idaho College of Law. He often has been a guest professor in Germany. Alongside his work at the School of Law, Professor Miller has a joint-appointment as Lecturer in Literature in Washington and Lee University’s undergraduate College. In that position he works extensively with colleagues and students in W&L’s German and Russian Department. Professor Miller, a recognized expert in German Law and Legal Culture, is the author/editor of a number of books in the fields of comparative law and international law.

Professor Miller is the co-founder and Co-Editor in Chief of the German Law Journal, an on-line, English-language journal reporting on developments in German, European and International jurisprudence. Now in its second decade, the German Law Journal is one of the most successful and innovative fora for legal scholarship from a transnational perspective.

Professor Miller has been recognized for his work on German law and transatlantic affairs. In 2013, Professor Miller was named a KoRSE Fellow at the University of Freiburg. Professor Miller was a 2009/2010 Fulbright Senior Research Fellow in residence at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and Public International Law in Heidelberg, Germany.  In 1999/2000, Professor Miller was a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow and, during that program, he participated in internship and clerkship experiences at the German Federal Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights. In appreciation for his work on behalf of the Bosch Fellowship and German-American relations, Professor Miller was recognized as the Bosch Alumni of the Year in 2012.

Professor Miller served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Robert H. Whaley of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.  For four years prior to becoming a professor, Miller served as appellate and post-conviction counsel for indigent, death-sentenced inmates in the state and federal courts of Arizona and Tennessee. Professor Miller is admitted to the Arizona State Bar.