Berlin’s Justice Senator Felor Badenberg no longer wants to give preferential treatment to migrants in judicial service hiring. She considers corresponding quotas, as provided for in Berlin, to be unconstitutional. “In a constitutional state, the Basic Law cannot be interpreted as one wishes,” Badenberg said on Wednesday in the Legal Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives. Instead, she announced a constitutionally compliant interpretation of Berlin’s regulations.

Specifically, the issue concerns two paragraphs in Berlin’s Act on the Promotion of Participation in the Migration Society (PartMigG). Paragraph 11 stipulates that at least 40 percent of those invited to job interviews must have a migration background, reflecting their share of Berlin’s population. Paragraph 12 aims at targeted consideration in hiring.

Best candidate selection: Senator halts hiring over violation of the Basic Law

According to Badenberg, this results in “applicants with distinction-level exam results not being invited because they do not have a migration background.” Instead, less-qualified candidates are invited and even hired. In a specific case in autumn 2025, the senator interrupted this selection process by refusing to sign off on the appointment.

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The “hiring of applicants with lower exam grades” would have violated the principle of selecting the best candidates (Article 33, paragraph 2 of the Basic Law) and the principle of equal treatment (Article 3 of the Basic Law). The originally selected candidate has since withdrawn their application, Badenberg added.

The PartMigG came into force in 2021 under the Red-Red-Green coalition. Even at that time, within the justice administration then led by The Left, there had already been doubts about its constitutionality, Badenberg said. She now bases her position on the assessment of her department’s legal experts, her own legal expertise, and an opinion by a law firm that also regularly represents the federal government.

Badenberg does not want to be categorized herself

Badenberg rejected accusations from the opposition. “It is strange when constitutional concerns are described as ‘campaign rhetoric at the expense of migrants’”, said the CDU politician, who has been in office since 2023. Badenberg herself grew up in Iran until the age of twelve before fleeing to Germany with her family. “What am I now? Black or white?” the senator asked. “I do not want to be categorized.”

Badenberg also pointed out that stating a migration background in applications is voluntary. Similar laws exist in other countries, but without a quota.

This article was originally written and published on the 25th of March in German. It was translated in English with the use of Artificial Intelligence.