Recently, a decision was once again made about the legality of the broadcasting fee.
It was only now that it became apparent that two of those involved in the resolutions were related to each other. They are brothers.
Specifically, it is about the following:
The broadcasting fee has existed since 2013 and is based on a report by Paul Kirchhof from 2010. The report explains why and how the GEZ, which was valid until then, can be reformed.
There were already complaints back then about the legality of the broadcasting fee, since most, but not all, households have a television, a radio or a smartphone with which one can receive public broadcasting programs. This is why colloquially it is often referred to as a “compulsory levy”. However, this term is even used by the Federal Ministry of Finance ( page 10, left column, last sentence ).
But now there is another point: lawsuits against the broadcasting fee in its fundamental legality go to the Federal Constitutional Court . The Vice President of the Federal Constitutional Court is Ferdinand Kirchhof , and he has a say when it comes to the legality of the broadcasting fee.
The conclusion of some pages:
Paul Kirchhof is considered the “inventor” of the radio license fee. His brother Ferdinand is vice president and judge at the Federal Constitutional Court. Ergo, “nepotism” is being practiced, and one brother “waves” through the contribution, which is based on the other brother’s report, in every lawsuit.
However, it's not that simple!
If you read the memes that were quickly created based on an article from “Journalistenwatch”, you might think that the entire Federal Constitutional Court consists only of the two brothers. Here are two examples:

There have already been several requests to exclude the Vice President and Judge of the Federal Constitutional Court Ferdinand Kirchhof from the proceedings. The reason is obvious: “concern of bias”. On the surface, the “judge brother” wants to do the “evaluator brother” a favor by always nodding off on the radio contribution.
The problem: These procedures don't just involve two people!
We will illustrate this to you with a current example :

This was about the judgment , which states that part of the broadcasting fee is not legal, namely the part that states that the broadcasting fee must also be paid for second homes.
And who recognized that part of the broadcasting fee as illegitimate? Was that Judge Ferdinand who contradicted that part of his brother Paul's report?
No, it was the First Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court.
And that Senate consists not only of Ferdinand Kirchhof, but also of a total of eight judges .

As you can see, such a judgment is decided on an eighth by Ferdinand Kirchhof. He also can't go it alone as vice president, as the memes above imply.
But maybe everyone is in cahoots?
That's what some people might think at this point. Maybe Ferdinand said to the other judges: “Listen! We're talking about something my brother did! You're all in favor of it, don't you understand? Otherwise there will be no Christmas bonus!”
You could exaggerate it like this or something like that.
But what advantage would the expert brother Paul have if the broadcasting fee remained as it is?
Advantage: None!
As already mentioned, there have already been several complaints about the fact that Ferdinand Kirchhof sits as Vice President in the First Senate and therefore has a say in the broadcasting fee. And such complaints were not simply waved away, they were actually negotiated. There is even a current decision by the Federal Constitutional Court .
The current decision from April 24, 2018 is about whether Ferdinand Kirchhof should be excluded from the decisions on the broadcasting fee. This judgment was also heard before the First Senate - of course without Ferdinand Kirchhof, who was directly affected.
The following emerges from that decision:
Paul Kirchhof is related to Ferdinand Kirchhof in the second degree, but has no direct connection to the subject of the proceedings (the broadcasting fee). His report was considered the basis for the current broadcasting fee, but he did not formulate this regulation in its current form. If anything changes to the broadcasting fee, it will have neither advantages nor disadvantages for Paul Kirchhof. He doesn’t get any “royalties” or anything similar for every broadcasting fee he pays. He wouldn't get a pay cut if the broadcasting fee were abolished.
In the end, it would make no sense at all if Ferdinand Kirchhof were to order all other judges to agree to a regulation that was based on report . Paul Kirchhof would have none of it. Apart from the fact that the current ruling is a good example: after all, that regulation has now been changed, even though Ferdinand Kirchhof was involved.
Conclusion
Yes, Paul and Ferdinand Kirchhof are brothers. Paul prepared a report that forms the basis for the broadcasting fee. Ferdinand is a judge at the Federal Constitutional Court and a co-decision maker in rulings on the legality of the broadcasting fee.
But that was it. The judge brother does not decide alone , and the expert brother has no advantages or disadvantages in how the broadcasting fee is decided.
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

