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Rolf Lamprecht (1930-2022)
Photo: private
He once described himself as the »doyen of Karlsruhe court reporting«.
He was - and the self-description is still comparatively modest when you hear what the former President of the Federal Constitutional Court Andreas Voßkuhle said about him: Lamprecht was "not without reason as a legal journalist for many decades the measure of all things in the Federal Republic".
Lamprecht, born on October 12, 1930 in Berlin, gave »politician« as a career goal when he graduated from high school.
But journalism soon became his dream job.
"That's what little Lamprecht does"
He began his career as a freelancer for the »Berliner Kurier«.
His court reporter, Hans-Joachim Frohner, initially took the young man, who wanted to do practical work alongside his studies at the German University for Politics in Berlin, under his wing.
"That's what little Lamprecht does" became a dictum at Frohner - and it wasn't long before Lamprecht also became Frohner's son-in-law.
And he became a great journalist, certainly one of the greatest among right-wing journalists.
The texts are convincing
The fact that Lamprecht came to SPIEGEL is basically due to the SPIEGEL affair.
When publisher Rudolf Augstein was in custody in Karlsruhe in 1968, he regretted that there was no SPIEGEL office there.
And just at this point in time, the young Lamprecht applied – without knowing it – to SPIEGEL in Hamburg, with work samples from his time as a court reporter for the Berlin daily mirror.
The texts were convincing, and Lamprecht was immediately sent to Karlsruhe as a correspondent.
A few years later, in 1975, he and his colleagues founded the Justice Press Conference there.
The reason for this was a muzzle that the then Federal Minister of Justice Hans-Jochen Vogel had given the then Federal Attorney General Siegfried Buback because he disliked Buback's frank dealings with the public.
Buback then suggested that Lamprecht set up "something similar to the federal press conference" - and added: "You invite me, of course I can't say no." That's how it happened, and Lamprecht served as chairman of the association for many years.
Harsh billing
To mark his 65th birthday, fellow journalists, Karlsruhe judges and personalities in legal policy dedicated a commemorative publication to him: »Lamprecht im SPIEGEL«.
In it, they assembled and paid tribute to some of his sometimes legendary texts, such as »Constitutional Court: Trio infernale«, a harsh reckoning with a three-member body of the Federal Constitutional Court acting with questionable unanimity.
Or »Trust is better« about the practice of the presiding judges at the Federal Court of Justice at the time, to control the case law by appropriately selecting the judges involved in the decision;
the practice was subsequently abandoned.
"Judge Against Judge"
While he was still at SPIEGEL, Lamprecht did his doctorate in 1992 at the University of Hamburg's faculty of philosophy on the subject of "Differing Opinions and their Significance for Legal Culture," published under the title "Judges Against Judges."
In the foreword, the political scientist, who has just received his doctorate, described his time at SPIEGEL as “intensive studies in the legal residence”.
As a result, Lamprecht probably became the most legally competent non-lawyer this republic had ever had.
Lamprecht also made a name for himself as an author with other works that were as profound as they were clever and excellently written.
»On the Myth of Independence« and »On the Dismantling of the Federal Constitutional Court« are just a few of his titles.
In 2011, Limbach's successor, Voßkuhle, gave the laudatory speech, from which the opening quote is derived, for the presentation of his last book, "I'm going to Karlsruhe," a story of the Federal Constitutional Court told along the lines of the President of the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe and the only female President to date, Jutta Limbach.
Vosskuhle, who describes himself as a "loyal Lamprecht reader and Lamprecht friend", characterized "the numerous descriptions of the big cases, the big decisions" in Lamprecht's book as "all amazingly accurate and legally precise, even in detail".
That's not to be expected "especially against the background of the necessary reduction to core statements, especially not from a SPIEGEL journalist who loves punch lines, if this little teasing is allowed."
Awarded the Federal Cross of Merit
Lamprecht worked for SPIEGEL until the end of 1998, and in March 1999 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class.
Even as a pensioner, he remained committed to reporting on the judiciary and legal policy issues.
He continued to write regularly for legal journals, but also for the Süddeutsche Zeitung until a few months ago.
And occasionally also in SPIEGEL, upon special request, for example last autumn on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Federal Constitutional Court.
Rolf Lamprecht died on Thursday in Bühl (Baden) surrounded by his family.
