Malte Graßhof, who has been the president of the Mannheim Administrative Court for almost three years, is set to become the new president of Germany’s Federal Administrative Court, according to a report in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. His nomination, which is being backed by legal policymakers across party lines from both the federal and state levels, is expected to be put forward by the judicial election committee in June for the Leipzig seat. At that time, the current court president, Andreas Korbmacher, will retire, and the committee’s vote will be followed by a cabinet decision naming Graßhof as the successor.
In addition to his role in Mannheim, Graßhof works part‑time at the State Constitutional Court in Stuttgart. He is originally from the Rhineland and, as the “FAZ” notes, is the son of former federal constitutional judge Karin Graßhof, who served from 1986 to 1998 on the recommendation of the SPD. Malte Graßhof is affiliated with the CDU.
Last year he wrote in the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” that a constitutional court should be “politically balanced in principle” and warned that judges who are inflexible or have a personal agenda are unsuitable for the role. In his 2018 inauguration speech as president of the constitutional court, he opposed describing the judiciary as “silent violence” and emphasized the court’s duty to occasionally speak up quietly from the background.
Baden‑Württemburg’s justice minister, Marion Gentges (CDU), praised Graßhof’s achievements, noting his contributions to the development of electronic case files and his performance during the wave of asylum‑related litigation.