Activity Report of the Constitutional Court 2024
The Constitutional Court presents its activity report for the year 2024. In addition to an overview of its case law, the report also contains numerous statistics. The report is available via this link.
In 2024, the judges dealt with 5,346 cases. During the same period, 5,376 new cases were filed, 71 per cent of which concerned asylum and immigration law. Despite the high workload, the time required to complete cases was very short by international standards: in 2024, it was 79 days.
The work of the Constitutional Court in the previous year was characterised, among other things, by important legislative review proceedings such as those concerning the regulation of assisted suicide, several motions for parliamentary committees of inquiry and numerous proceedings in asylum and immigration law. These and other interesting decisions of the Constitutional Court are summarised in the section ‘Case law’.
The report also provides information on the national and international contacts maintained by the Constitutional Court in the previous year in the interests of mutual understanding and the further development of a functioning constitutional jurisdiction.
In addition to Constitution Day on 1 October, at which UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk gave the keynote speech, the event ‘Constitution in Dialogue’, held for the first time in 2024, is also worth mentioning. Over two days, members and staff of the Constitutional Court, together with the newly established foundation ‘Stiftung Forum Verfassung’, informed numerous visitors in an exhibition area in front of the court building about the tasks and work of the Court and the importance of an independent constitutional jurisdiction. The working methods and function of the Constitutional Court were also explained during guided tours of the court building.
The section ‘Interesting Facts’ presents the 10-year collaboration between the Constitutional Court and the administrative courts (introduction of administrative jurisdiction of first instance in 2014). Finally, the interview with former Federal Minister Hon. Prof. Dr. Heinrich Neisser, who worked as secretary in the Presidium of the Constitutional Court from 1961 to 1966, is well worth reading.
In 2024, the Constitutional Court also mourned the passing of some of its outstanding former members. The report contains detailed tributes to the achievements of former President and former Federal Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein, former President Ludwig Adamovich and long-standing member Peter Oberndorfer.