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Comment by blastbeat | Hacker News Reader

It would not be the first time, that such a law finally passes the parliament. And it would not be the first time, that such a law is invalidated by the Federal Constitutional Court after that.

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We cannot always hope that the Constitutional Court comes to the rescue and is the final straw that will invalidate these laws. First, last year a very conservative constitutional judge has been appointed, which probably will be more common, especially now that a reactionary party has become part of the House of representatives. Second, the court has made problematic rulings in the past -- even under more liberal judges.

> especially now that a reactionary party has become part of the House of representatives.

What does the US parliament have to do with this?

Nothing, I just wanted to use another word for the Budestag, since it is an equivalent institution and not everyone is familiar with the german political institutions. Especially the Bundestag and Budesrat (equivalent to the Senate) is often mixed up. The reactionary party I was referring to is of course the AfD, not the GOP.

> Nothing, I just wanted to use another word for the Budestag, since it is an equivalent institution and not everyone is familiar with the german political institutions.

House of Representatives is not another word for the Bundestag, its the name of the lower house of the US parliament. Which Im sure does not have exactly the same role as the Bundestag.

> Budesrat (equivalent to the Senate)

It isnt. For example, Senators are elected as senators, the Bundesrat is a representation of the state governments. Their roles also differ. You cant just map political institutions 1:1 like that.

Of course not, I never said they were equal, but 'equivalent'. In order to facilitate a discussion some simplifications are helpful sometimes. You are right in the regard that on the level of a formal academic discussion this would be a false equivalency. But on an informal level (with that level of simplification in mind) they are similiar enough to make a comparison.

The most striking similiarity of Bundesrat and Senate for example is that both are institutions that represent political subdivisions (States, Bundesländer), not the population as such. Another similiarity is the role in the ratification and oversight [of the federal Budget (https://www.bundesrat.de/DE/bundesrat/ausschuesse/fz/fz-node...) especially and generally laws that concern federal and substate-level interests].

Also, I made that comparison especially because both houses of the german parliament are regularly mistaken with one another -- even in serious publications.

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