W&L Law Professor Expects German Constitutional Court to Ratify EU Bailout Fund

On Sept. 12, the German Constitutional Court will decide whether Germany's ratification of the financial recovery plan known as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is constitutional. The ESM would help bail out debt-laden countries like Greece and Spain. Without Germany’s participation, and its huge financial contribution to the fund, the bailout mechanism would fail, throwing the financial markets worldwide — and especially in the 17-nation single currency area — into turmoil. Given all that is at stake with this decision, all eyes are on the German Constitutional Court. Washington and Lee University law professor Russell Miller, an expert in German Constitutional Law and a former staff adviser at the Court, thinks the Court will take the responsible path, even if that means compromising cherished, constitutional commitments to democracy and accountability in order to affirm Europe's frantic measures to manage the debt crisis. Miller is co-author of the The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany (with Donald Kommers) and co-founder of The German Law Journal, a highly respected English-language forum for scholarship on developments in German and European jurisprudence.