The German Basic Law in U.S. Constitutional Argument and Imagination: Strategic Comparisons (1949-2026)
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
Abstract
With the founding of the postwar Federal Republic, Germany rose to new prominence in comparative constitutional discourse in the United States. As this essay explores, Germany frequently figured into arguments in the U.S. rights revolution and beyond. The German Grundgesetz ("Basic Law" or constitution) has offered a touchstone for debates about constitutional rights, federalism, and democracy, with a perspective that often differs from the dominant one in the United States yet with an equal commitment to the defense of broadly shared liberal constitutionalism. Whether to argue for rights not (yet) recognized or the adjustment of rights already established in U.S. jurisprudence, or to inform our understanding of institutional dynamics of federalism, democracy, and the rule of law, lawyers, judges, and scholars have strategically drawn on the German experience to expand the American constitutional imagination.
Recommended Citation
Halberstam, Daniel, "The German Basic Law in U.S. Constitutional Argument and Imagination: Strategic Comparisons (1949-2026)" (2026). Public Law & Legal Theory Working Papers. 5.
https://repository.law.umich.edu/pub_law_archive/5