There are sixteen judges and eight from the Bundesrat and Bundestag. This can also be a lengthy process and many factors can play a part. They are elected for a twelve year term and must be at least 40 years old and must also retire at age 68. The German judges are a little different than American judges in their careers as Alex Dragnich reads “Thus, being a judge is a career that one chooses early in life, rather than coming to it at middle age after years of private law practice, as is the pattern in the United States” ( 427). In the two senates they are divided into three chambers with three members and one member from one of the senate is the president of the ruling and in the other senate is the vice president. The set up and divisions are a little more complicated than the straightforwardness of the United States …show more content…
Michael Curtis and others state that “The Basic Law authorizes both judges and legislative groups, as well as state government, to petition the court directly” (226). It has three types of jurisdiction being concrete, abstract, and constitutional complaints. The jurisdiction on abstract deals with questions when no actual case is present. The concept of concret jurisdiction deals with actual cases that raises questions and is similar to the United State Supreme Court and how it function. The constitutional complaints is similar to abstract hearings but has a wider range. The reason for this is because anyone in Germany can bring up cases that could infringe on the their rights in the Basic Law. This idea is different than the American system. It is the top of all the other courts but mainly deals with the constitution and the other five dealing within their specialty. The court has jurisdiction over 16 categories which the Basic Law talks about. This is a wider jurisdiction than the United State system. The appeals cases are heard in the Federal Court of Justice. The basic law make sure that the constitutional court deals only with issue with the Basic Law and not appeals. They can also review and be more involved in the legislative process than in