US embassy cable - 04FRANKFURT6441

UNCLAS FRANKFURT 006441 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, KISL, GM 
SUBJECT: Germany's Supreme Court President Predicts Ludin 
Headscarf Appeal 
 
Ref: FRANKFURT 5675 
 
Sensitive but unclassified  not for internet distribution 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: In a July 15 meeting with Consul 
General, Federal Constitutional Court (BVG) president Hans- 
Juergen Papier predicted that Baden-Wuerttemberg (B-W) 
plaintiff Fereshta Ludin would appeal a newly-minted B-W 
law banning headscarves for civil servants (reftel.) 
Papier opined that the motion would force a decision from 
the Karlsruhe-based Federal Constitutional Court, Germany's 
supreme judicial authority, on whether the B-W law's 
special exemption for Christian and Jewish religious 
symbols signifies preferential treatment for those faiths 
and contravenes religious freedom as enshrined in Germany's 
constitution.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (U) Consul General visited Federal Constitutional Court 
(FCC) President Hans-Juergen Papier on July 15.  Papier 
began his presidency in March of 2002 and, unlike 
predecessors Ute Limbach and Roman Herzog (who went on to 
become Federal President of Germany), has limited 
experience in elected office.  He has instead amassed a 
reputation as one of Germany's keenest legal minds before 
becoming FCC president.  He is a member of the Christian 
Social Union (CSU) (Bavaria's conservative ruling party) 
and has registered minority opinions against the Court's 
sanctioning of same sex marriages and its abolition of 
Bavaria's restrictions on abortion. 
 
3.  (SBU) Papier voiced his expectation that B-W plaintiff 
Fereshta Ludin would appeal the Leipzig Federal 
Administrative Court's upholding of a recent B-W law 
banning headscarves for public servants.  The FCC attracted 
controversy in September 2003 for its decision to allow 
state parliaments to pass laws regulating or forbidding the 
wearing of headscarves by public school teachers.  The 
court's verdict addressed a long-running dispute between 
teacher Fereshta Ludin and the B-W government over Ludin's 
right to wear her headscarf while teaching.  Papier 
predicted that the case would end up in the First Senate 
(the section of the FCC that rules on matters of religious 
freedom), as opposed to Leipzig's assignation of the matter 
to its own Second Senate (which deals with the rights of 
civil servants.)  The FCC president believes that Ludin's 
appeal will force his court to decide whether the B-W law's 
exemption of "Christian and Jewish traditions" from the ban 
contradicts the doctrine of religious freedom mandated in 
Germany's constitution. 
 
4.  (SBU) Papier noted that increasing involvement from the 
European Human Rights Commission and the European Court 
complicated the FCC's ability to set and maintain legal 
precedent.  He cited the independent European Human Rights 
Commission review of the B-W headscarf law as an example. 
Papier added that ratification of the European Constitution 
would further blur jurisdictional authority. 
 
5.  (SBU) COMMENT: The Ludin appeal should reach Karlsruhe 
before the end of the year.  Although Papier is a staunch 
conservative, the liberal composition of the First Senate 
and its relative independence from the court presidency 
could mean that a decision striking the B-W law's reference 
to "Christian and Jewish traditions" is likely.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
BODDE