The Air Security Act

Germany's constitutional court has ruled that the Air Security Act, which authorises the Bundeswehr (the German armed forces) to shoot down a passenger plane if it's being used as a weapon by terrorists, is unconstitutional. Birgit Baumann approves: "It's good that the constitutional court has put a stop to this and set things straight: all human lives are of equal value. The State can't let one life be destroyed to protect another. It should not be allowed to judge over life and death." She goes on to say that the highest judges have also made clear what they think about the deployment of troops on the home front, as planned by German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble for the World Cup. "To be precise, nothing at all, because it's unconstitutional. Only in the case of major disasters are soldiers allowed to be deployed within the country – and even if Germany, the host country, is eliminated at an early stage, you still can't classify the World Cup as a major disaster."

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