Constitutional Court: Saxony raises strict corona rules!

Constitutional Court: Saxony raises strict corona rules!

Sachsen, Deutschland - The Saxon Constitutional Court declared several corona measures from the spring of 2021 to be unconstitutional on June 12, 2025. This decision follows an oral hearing that took place on April 11, 2025. The Court declared in particular the limitation of the number of participants in marriages and funerals as well as the nightly lock between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The regulations issued provided, among other things, that only four coffin carriers, a clergyman or funeral speaker and a maximum of five members of the closest family were allowed to take part in funerals. The Court found that these regulations violated the fundamental right to marriage and family in accordance with Article 22 of the Saxon Constitution. In addition, the nightly lock was classified as unfounded, since it lacked the necessary proof of its necessity. She also violated freedom of movement according to Article 16 (1) sentence 2 of the Saxon Constitution.

constitutional regulations

Despite the decision against the measures mentioned, the court rated other provisions as constitutional. This includes general initial restrictions during the day and contact restrictions in private and public space. Although these were considered permissible, but with the note that future regulations should better consider the right of children and adolescents in personal handling. Furthermore, the limitation of meetings in the open air in ten people with an incidence of over 300 was regarded as lawful.

The demands of the AfD parliamentary group in the Saxon state parliament were only partially recognized. However, the standard of standards control was not judged to be obvious. The court found that the Saxon state government had not abused the federal law authorization basis of § 28a IFSG, which was evaluated by the AfD parliamentary group as a "late rehabilitation" for the critics of the Corona measures. It is also pointed out that Saxony was considered a corona hotspot at the beginning of 2021, with an incidence of over 300 and over 100 Corona dead.

The legal framework

As in other federal states, the Saxon authorities took extensive measures to combat pandemic in early 2021. These included contact and output blocks as well as an alcohol ban in public. The court found that the Corona protection regulations of January 26, 2021 and February 12, 2021 were largely constitutional, with the two exceptions already mentioned.

The political and legal controversy over the Corona measures were not insignificant. Critics organized demonstrations and the judiciary was faced with a variety of lawsuits. Historically, such extensive interventions in the fundamental rights have never been carried out in Germany.

The political debate about the interventions of the fundamental rights has been hot since the beginning of pandemic. Although the legitimate purpose of the measures was health protection, these interventions must always be checked for their proportionality. To this end, citizens and institutions have the right to have the measures checked in court to ensure that they meet the necessary legal requirements. In the past, courts have often checked the legality of corona measures and often initiated urgent procedures to grant legal protection as quickly as possible.

The final decision of the Saxon Constitutional Court is an important step in the legal dispute to evaluate the Corona regulations and could have an impact on future regulations. The debate on the balance between health protection and the protection of fundamental rights remains explosive.

More information can be found in the reports of , of course, magazine , süddeutsche Zeitung and Tagesschau .