| Andreas Voßkuhle | |
|---|---|
| 9th President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 16 March 2010 |
|
| Preceded by | Hans-Jürgen Papier |
| 12th Vicepresident of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany | |
| In office 7 May 2008 – 16 March 2010 |
|
| Preceded by | Winfried Hassemer |
| Succeeded by | Ferdinand Kirchhof |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 December 1963 Detmold, Germany |
| Nationality | Germany |
| Spouse(s) | Eva Voßkuhle |
| Alma mater | Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich |
Andreas Voßkuhle (born 21 December 1963 in Detmold) is a German legal scholar and the president of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.
Voßkuhle started studying law at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich between 1983 and 1989. In 1989 he passed the first Staatsexamen. Before he completed the second Staatsexamen in 1993 he wrote his doctoral thesis (German title Rechtsschutz gegen den Richter) under supervision of Peter Lerche.
Between 1992 and 1994 he was a research fellow at the chair for public law in Augsburg. Later, in 1995, he worked as a referent in the Ministry of the Interior of the Free State of Bavaria. Following his habilitation at the University of Augsburg in 1998, he became a full professor at the University of Freiburg in 1999 as well as the head of their institute for political science and the philosophy of law. At this university he held various positions, e. g. the one of the faculty director of the law faculty in the following years.
Since 2007 he is also an ordinary member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Later, in July 2007, he became the head of the University of Freiburg as well. He started to work in this position in April 2008.
In May 2008, Voßkuhle became the vice-president of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany and the chairman of its second senate. He was the second choice of the SPD, after their initial candidate, Horst Dreier, was rejected by the CDU because of his position regarding stem cell research and torture.[1] When the mandate of the former President of the Court, Hans-Jürgen Papier ended in 2010, Voßkuhle became the youngest President in the history of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.