The state parliament in Brandenburg has chosen novelist Juli Zeh ("Unterleuten") as judge at the state constitutional court. The 44-year-old doctorate lawyer had been proposed by the SPD faction and received 71 out of 86 votes cast.
For her counterpart, the lawyer Victoria Tuschik, proposed by the AFD group, 13 members voted; two abstained. Toe was not present at the election.
Six of the nine volunteer posts are currently being filled, with six judges leaving in the coming months. The state constitutional court in Brandenburg consists of the president, the vice-president and seven constitutional judges. The panel is made up of one-third of professional judges, certified lawyers and members without legal training, and meets once a month.
It is not uncommon for artists to be judges at the Brandenburg Constitutional Court. The film director Andreas Dresen is still there until 2022, from 1999 to 2009, the painter Florian Havemann belonged to the panel as a non-lawyer. Members are elected for ten years, re-election is not possible.
Juli Zeh repeatedly spoke politically in the past. She works as an animal welfare ambassador for the "Four Paws" Foundation and joined the SPD in 2017.