Federal Constitutional Court

On the one hand, Germany's Federal Constitutional Court could not have chosen a worse time to intervene in the public debate regarding the mandate of the European Central Bank, with its demand for explanations concerning the system of "quantitative easing" which is generally acknowledged as having saved the euro.

Germany's highest court has upheld a complaint by a Syrian whose asylum claim was rejected because he'd already been granted asylum in Greece.

The man, whose name wasn't released, arrived in Germany in 2015. He told officials he had already been granted protection in Greece but had been living on the street there and received no support from the Greek government.

Germany's highest court is hearing March 1 a landmark request to ban a neo-Nazi fringe party, more than a decade after a first attempt failed.

The Federal Constitutional Court on March 1 opened three days of hearings on an application from parliament's upper house, which represents Germany's 16 state governments, for a ban on the National Democratic Party.

Thousands of people took to the streets of the German city of Dresden on Aug. 29 to send a message of welcome to refugees, after a string of violent anti-migrant protests in the region.

Germany's top court said Dec. 12 it rejected a bid by leftist opposition parties to call former NSA contractor Edward Snowden as a witness in a parliamentary probe of US intelligence activities.