however, with regard to the NSA’s Selector Lists, the Federal Government came to
the conclusion that a submission to the Committee of Inquiry without the approval of
the United States of America would amount to a breach of the mutually assured confidentiality and undermine Germany’s ability to cooperate at an international level.
With their applications in the Organstreit proceedings, the parliamentary group of
DIE LINKE in the German Bundestag and the parliamentary group of BÜNDNIS 90/
DIE GRÜNEN in the German Bundestag and two members of the Committee of Inquiry into NSA Activities who are also members of the aforementioned parliamentary
groups request the finding that the Federal Government and the Head of the Federal
Chancellery Office violated the Bundestag’s right to collect evidence under to Article
44 of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz – GG) by refusing to hand over the requested information.
[End of excerpt]
[…]
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II.
The applicants initiated Organstreit proceedings before the Federal Constitutional
Court with the applicant brief of 16 September 2015. With their application, they seek
a finding that respondents no. 1 and 2 violated the rights of the Bundestag under Art.
44 GG by refusing to hand over all files, documents, data stored electronically or by
other means, and other objects of evidence which provide information on what kind of
knowledge the BND had in the past, or has presently, on whether and to what extent
the NSA of the United States of America within the scope of cooperation of Joint SIGINT Activity pursued (or attempted to pursue) intelligence activities directed at German targets or German interests, and that provide information as to the reaction of
the German authorities.
[…]
27
28-47
III.
[…]
48-63
IV.
For reasons of confidentiality (cf. Bundestag document, Bundestagsdrucksache –
BTDrucks 14/9220 p. 5), the Senate refrained pursuant to § 66a first sentence of the
Federal Constitutional Court Act (Bundesverfassungsgerichtsgesetz – BVerfGG)
from conducting an oral hearing.
64
To the extent that the files submitted by the parties constitute classified documents,
their content will not be disclosed in the following considerations.
65
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