News

Welcome to the website of Alexander Tischbirek, Assistant Professor of Public Law, especially Administrative Law, with a focus on Digitalization, Media and E-Government!

Announcement: New lecture in "Public Digital Law II" (WS 2023/24, Wed 12-14 hrs.)

Prof. Kühling and Prof. Tischbirek are offering a new lecture for advanced students in "Public Digital Law" in the upcoming winter semester. The lecture centers around the question of how public law secures fundamental constitutional values in the digital age. This initially concerns questions of the digitalization of the three powers (State 2.0). Here, the keywords are, for example, "e-voting with voting machines", "limits of administrative digitalization using the example of 'predictive policing'" or "e-justice using the example of an algorithmic penalty assessment". This is followed by a discussion of the problems of fundamental rights protection in the digital space (Fundamental Rights 2.0). Here, we are thinking of topics such as "digital freedom of expression on facebook & co" or "digital freedom of assembly?". Finally, we will devote ourselves to new regulatory access in EU secondary law (Regulation 2.0 ). Here the keywords are for example "the taming of meta, amazon, alphabet, apple, twitter & co by digital markets act, digital services act etc.?" or "the new AI regulation of the EU - effective taming of AI threats?". The lecture will follow the "inverted classroom" method: A mandatory requirement of your participation is the preparatory reading of the texts deposited in GRIPS for each unit. These will form the basis for our discussions. All interested students are cordially invited; in the LL.B. Digital Law programm, the event forms part of the module DIGLAW 07.4. [in German language].

Seminar Announcement: "Fundamental Rights and their Impact on the Civil Law System" (Excursion to Vietnam)

In a joint seminar with HTW Berlin, Hanoi School of Law and the National University of Vietnam, we will study human rights protection under international law and its effects in state constitutional and civil law. The results will then be applied in a two-day moot court. The seminar will be held in English; it will take place from 5 March until 15 March 2023 in Hanoi and surroundings. Accommodation and meals on site as well as an excursion program will be fully financed. Flights to Hanoi will be partly subsidized. A foreign language certificate according to § 24 II JAPO can be awarded. Applications (3rd semester students and above) should include a tabular CV (max. 2 pages), a grade overview of the academic achievements to date, and a letter of motivation written in English (max. 1 page). Please send your application per E-Mail by 16 November 2022. (Photo: Dragfyre, 2010, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wiki Commons.)

Seminar Announcement, Summer Term 2023: "Police Law in Transition"

Police law is a mirror of its time. Prevailing basic understandings of the state, of freedom and equality leave their mark just as much as technical innovation, collective traumas or economic constraints. Where does police law stand in 2023? Can it organize the protection of critical infrastructure 50 meters under the sea as well as the securing the virtual space from crime? Is the distribution of competences between the state and federal police forces and the European police agencies (still) adequate? Do new dangers require new police methods and/or do new police methods require new law?
 
Depending on the number of participants, the seminar will be offered as a block course or in weekly sessions. Student research projects are assigned to Schwerpunkt 7 (Law of the Information Society); in the preparatory seminar, additional topics from the entire spectrum of police law will be assigned.

From Modeled Topics to Areas of Law

In the latest issue of the German Law Journal (Volume 23, Issue 4), a study by Luisa Wendel, Anna Shadrova and Alexander Tischbirek was published today, which makes use of text mining techniques to investigate which topics dominate referrals for judicial review and constitutional complaints before the German Federal Constitutional Court. For this purpose, all Senate decisions published in the volumes were evaluated by means of computer-assisted "topic modeling". The study is thus also intended to make a contribution to the reception of the methods of the Digital Humanities in legal studies. The text of the study can be found here (open access).

"Discretionary AI"

In issue 4/2021 of the Zeitschrift für Digitalisierung und Recht (ZfDR), which was published today, Alexander Tischbirek examines the legal framework for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in discretionary administrative decisions. The article makes use of specific examples to show where discretionary administration is already experimenting with AI. The article questions the accuracy of Germany's current Administrative Law doctrine when it comes to matters of digitalization, and it suggests some proposals for reform in order to make the practical advantages of discretionary AI fruitful for the administration without dissolving responsibility and reducing legal protection (in German with an English abstract).

Karlsruhe Canons? Self-canonization and external canonization of the case law of the German Federal Constitutional Court

In the current issue 4/2020 of the AöR, a study co-authored by Alexander Tischbirek was published, which investigates the canonization of the German Federal Constitutional Court's case law. For this purpose, firstly, textbooks and case collections were evaluated quantitatively. Secondly, the court's self-citations were read out with the help of a computer and from this a citation network of all published Senate decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court was calculated. Thus, the study is also an attempt to receive methods of the so-called "Digital Humanities" for jurisprudence.

The article (in German with an English abstract) can be read here.

New Study on the Enforcement of the Non-Discrimination Principle in Private Law

A study on the enforcement of the non-discrimination principle with regards to the access to goods and services, which was co-authored by Alexander Tischbirek, was published today by Germany's national antidiscrimination agency [in German].

The study compares classic means of individual legal enforcement with strategic lawsuits, association action, arbitration proceedings and proceedings before ombudsman institutions on the basis of numerous case studies. It measures these different mechanisms against the requirements of European and German anti-discrimination law. From this, concrete options for strengthening the enforcement of the non-discrimination principle are developed.

Further information on the study can be found on the website of the German antidiscrimination agency [in German].