Federal Attorney General Frank: Who is the new constitutional judge?

Federal Attorney General Peter Frank is moving to the Federal Constitutional Court at the suggestion of the CSU. His career to date has been complex. A focus of his work: the fight against right-wing terror.

Federal Attorney General Peter Frank only needs about 20 minutes to walk from his office to the Federal Constitutional Court. But he will soon be moving there completely, because the federal government’s current top prosecutor will be the new constitutional judge. The Federal Council elected him as the successor to Constitutional Judge Peter Müller.

Frank has been the Federal Prosecutor General in Karlsruhe since October 2015. When he took office he was 47 years old, making him the youngest head of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in the history of the Federal Republic. At the inauguration, he described his career as follows: “I have worked in Bavaria for the last 20 years and have been socialized by the Bavarian justice system, but I will not forget my origins from the northern part of Baden-Württemberg.”

The father of three children enjoys a good reputation, both as a person and as a lawyer. He studied in Würzburg and Munich and passed both state law exams with top grades. He also received top marks for his doctorate. Title of the doctoral thesis: “The usability of illegal private tape recordings”.

prosecutor, judge, Attorney General

A varied career followed, first as a public prosecutor in Munich, later as a judge at the regional court. Peter Frank then worked in the Bavarian Ministry of Justice and later again as a judge – now at the Munich Higher Regional Court. In 2015 he initially became Attorney General in Munich.

Shortly afterwards he moved to Karlsruhe, where he became head of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office as Harald Range’s successor. Around 300 employees work in the authority. As the federal public prosecutor’s office, it reports to the Federal Ministry of Justice. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for criminal proceedings in specific areas such as terrorism, espionage and international criminal law.

“I met extremely committed employees here who are very aware of their tasks and their responsibilities,” Frank once said. “It’s a nice position.”

Fight against terrorism

As Federal Prosecutor General, Peter Frank sought better cooperation between the various investigative authorities. A focus of his work was the fight against terrorism. He paid particular attention to right-wing terror. On the day of his inauguration, he took charge of the investigation into the knife attack on Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker.

He formed his own department on right-wing terrorism in the authority. “In collaboration with the state authorities, we have now developed a strategy to shed more light on and examine the issue of right-wing extremism from the perspective of law enforcement authorities, because a terrorist cell that can murder undetected for years, like the NSU, must no longer exist,” said he.

“Reich citizens” are increasingly under surveillance

The “Reichsbürger” scene has recently become increasingly important in the work of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. In December 2022, the Federal Prosecutor General arrested more than 20 men and women in a major nationwide raid, including a former AfD member of the Bundestag and several former soldiers.

The group is said to have planned a violent coup. Further searches and arrests followed. The indictment in this mammoth case is still pending.

Now, at the suggestion of the CSU, Peter Frank is moving to the Federal Constitutional Court as the successor to Peter Müller, the former Saarland CDU Prime Minister. This means he will join the Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court, which is responsible for, among other things, electoral and party law.

Before Frank was elected, former Bavarian Justice Minister Winfried Bausback (CSU) was considered for the post. The CSU ultimately nominated Peter Frank. The Federal Council unanimously accepted this proposal.