The article analyzes a very remarkable decision of the Constitutional Court of Germany that struck down a piece of legislation (section 14.3 of the 2005 Air Security Law –Luftsicherheitsgesetz) that expressly authorized the federal government to shoot down hijacked airplanes, in case they were likely to be crashed against a target on the ground. The Court ruled that the state decision of deliberately killing innocent people on board is incompatible with the right to human dignity and to the right to life, as established in sections 1.1 and 2.2 of the 1949 Basic Law. The article focuses on some of the main issues addressed by the Court (among others, the absolute nature of human dignity, which makes it unconstitutional for the legislature and for the executive to balance the lives of the passengers on board and the lives of the victims of the crash), and tries to situate it in the context of the German and European case law on anti–terrorism and human rights. It contains also reflections on some questions not addressed by the Court, and ends with a critical assessment of the capacity of law to regulate emergency situations.
European Public Law