Brigitte Bierlein

Brigitte Bierlein
President of the Constitutional Court
Assumed office
February 23, 2018
Appointed by Kurz government
Vice President Christoph Grabenwarter
Preceded by Gerhart Holzinger
Vice President of the Constitutional Court
In office
January 1, 2003 – February 22, 2018
Appointed by Schüssel government
President Karl Korinek
Gerhart Holzinger
Preceded by Karl Korinek
Succeeded by Christoph Grabenwarter
Personal details
Born (1949-06-25) June 25, 1949
Vienna
Alma mater University of Vienna

Brigitte Bierlein (born June 25, 1949 in Vienna) is an Austrian jurist. She was the advocate general of the Procurator's Office, essentially the country's chief public prosecutor, from 1990 to 2002, and a member of the executive board of the International Association of Prosecutors from 2001 to 2003. In 2003, Bierlein was made a member of the Austrian Constitutional Court. Since January 2018, she has been serving as its president, the first woman to hold this position.

Early life

Brigitte Bierlein was born on June 25, 1949 in Vienna.[1]

She was educated at the Gymnasium Kundmanngasse, from which she graduated in 1967.[1]

Her father was a civil servant. Her mother, in spite of having been trained as an artist, was a homemaker.[2]

Career

Bierlein originally wanted to study either art or architecture and came close to joining the University of Applied Arts.[3] She ultimately chose to study law instead, partly on the advice of her mother and partly because she did not want to be a financial burden on her parents any longer than necessary.[2][4][5] Bierlein enrolled at the University of Vienna, receiving her doctorate of law in 1971.[1]

After four years as a candidate judge, Bierlein was officially elevated to the judiciary in 1975. She spent the next two years presiding over trial courts, first the District Court Innere Stadt (German: Bezirksgericht Innere Stadt Wien) and then the District Tribunal Vienna (Stafbezirksgericht Wien), a criminal court that has since been dissolved.[1] In the former position, she mostly dealt with cases at tenancy law, an area that appears to have bored her greatly.[4]

In 1977, Bierlein left the bench to join the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office (Staatswanwaltschaft Wien). She was responsible for general and political criminal cases as well as for criminal cases pursuant to media law, a type of proceedings customarily handled by dedicated specialists in Austria. In 1986, Bierlein was promoted to the Vienna Chief Public Prosecutor's Office (Oberstaatsanwaltschaft Wien). She was now a distinguished civil servant attached to one of the country's five most senior criminal chambers. In 1987, she spent a few months working in the Department of Criminal Law in the Ministry of Justice, then returned to her position in the prosecution service.[1]

In 1990, she was appointed advocate general of the Procurator's Office, the section of the prosecution service attached directly to the Supreme Court.[1] She was the first woman to serve in this position.[3]

The same year, Bierlein became a member of the board of examiners for judges and prosecutors at the Vienna Higher Regional Court, a position she would hold until 2010.[1]

In 1995, Bierlein was appointed to the executive board of the Association of Austrian Prosecutors. From 2001 to 2003, she served as the association's president. Also from 2001 to 2003, she held a seat on the executive board of the International Association of Prosecutors.[1]

In 2002, the first Schüssel government recommended Bierlein for appointment as vice president of the Constitutional Court. The move was not uncontroversial at the time. Bierlein had prosecuted crime with great fervor but had not distinguished herself as a legal scholar; she is in fact considered indifferent as a theorist to this day.[3][5] Opposition politicians such as Josef Cap accused the government of passing over multiple more competent candidates in favor of a partisan hack. Bierlein supporters such as Maria Fekter countered that Bierlein's appointment would be an important step towards gender equality in Austria.[6][7]

Assenting to the cabinet's recommendation, President Thomas Klestil appointed Bierlein on November 21, 2002, the appointment to be effective January 1, 2003. Once again, Bierlein was the first woman to serve in the role she was being elevated to.[6][7][8] In fact, there had been no women at all on the Constitutional Court until 1995.[2][9]

Bierlein took over from the president of the court, Gerhart Holzinger, when he retired from the bench effective December 31, 2017.[10]

On the initiative of the Freedom Party, the right-of-center Kurz government moved to turn her interim position into a permanent one.[11][12] President Alexander Van der Bellen confirmed Bierlein as the new president of the Constitutional Court on February 23, 2018.[13] Bierlein's previous role as vice president passed on to Supreme Court justice Christoph Grabenwarter. Wolfgang Brandstetter, who had formerly been vice chancellor and minister of justice on a People's Party ticket, was appointed to fill the vacancy of the Court.[11][12]

Bierlein will reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 in 2019.[11][12]

Politics

Bierlein is solidly right of center but is not reputed to be a zealot. During her time as a prosecutor, she was noted for her hardline tough-on-crime stance, although her years on the bench have earned her a reputation for civility and for working well with ideological opponents.[5][3] Commentators from both sides of the political spectrum note Bierlein's close ties to both People's Party and Freedom Party, as well as the fact that her career owes both its unexpected major breaks to right-of-center coalition governments.[5][6][4][14]

Bierlein herself acknowledges both her toughness as a prosecutor and her socially conservative bent in general.[3] In response to doubts about her ability to remain above the fray as a Constitutional Court justice, she claims to be as committed to impartiality as any other professional judge; she also points out that she has never actually joined any party.[14]

Personal life

Bierlein is unmarried and has no children.[2][6]

Her life partner is a retired judge.[4][6]

Bierlein continues to cultivate artistic tastes. She enjoys theater, the opera, and visiting museums. She owns contemporary paintings, although she does not consider herself a collector.[2][4]

She also enjoys skiing and sailing.[6][7]

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Brigitte Bierlein". Austrian Constitutional Court. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Jungwirth, Michael; Swoboda, Manuela (February 21, 2018). "Erstmals eine Frau an der Spitze des Höchstgerichts". Kleine Zeitung. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Kommanda, Benedikt; Aichinger, Philipp (February 21, 2018). "Bierlein: Stets die Erste - jetzt auch im Verfassungsgerichtshof". Die Presse. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Prechtl, Elisabeth (February 22, 2018). "Brigitte Bierlein: Kunstsinnige Spitzen-Juristin". Oberösterreichische Nachrichten. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  5. 1 2 3 4 John, Gerald (February 23, 2018). "Brigitte Bierlein, Pionierin an der Spitze des Höchstgerichts". Der Standard. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Brigitte Bierlein: Paradejuristin wird erste Frau an VfGH-Spitze". Die Presse. February 21, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  7. 1 2 3 "Paradejuristin wird erste VfGH-Präsidentin". Der Standard. February 21, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  8. ↑ Heller, Kurt (2010). Der Verfassungsgerichtshof. Die Entwicklung der Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit in Österreich von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. Vienna: Verlag Österreich. pp. 492−495, 626.
  9. ↑ Aichinger, Philipp (December 27, 2009). "Höchstrichterin: Nein zu Frauenquoten". Die Presse. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  10. ↑ "Vizepräsidentin Brigitte Bierlein übernimmt interimistisch Leitung des Verfassungsgerichtshofes". Austrian Constitutional Court. January 1, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  11. 1 2 3 "Bierlein wird VfGH-Präsidentin, Brandstetter rückt nach". Tiroler Tageszeitung. February 21, 2018. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
  12. 1 2 3 "Bierlein wird VfGH-Präsidentin, Brandstetter rückt nach". Die Presse. February 21, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  13. ↑ "Neues VfGH-Präsidium von Van der Bellen angelobt". Die Presse. February 23, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  14. 1 2 "VfGH-Präsidentin Bierlein: "Ich war nie bei einer politischen Partei"". Oberösterreichische Nachrichten. February 26, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  15. ↑ "Anfragebeantwortung" (PDF). Austrian Parliament. April 23, 2012. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
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