that it was the Federal Government and the Head of the Federal Chancellery which
refused to hand over the NSA Selector Lists and thus bear responsibility for the act or
omission challenged (cf. BVerfGE 140, 115 <140 para. 61> with further references).
[…]
100
VI.
[…]
101-102
VII.
[…]
103
VIII.
104
[…]
C.
The application of applicants 1 and 2 is unfounded.
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I.
1. Under Art. 44(1) first sentence GG, the Bundestag has the right – and on the motion of one quarter of its members the duty – to establish a committee of inquiry with
the power to take any evidence necessary.
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a) The right of inquiry guaranteed under Art. 44 GG is one of the oldest and most
pivotal rights of Parliament (cf. BVerfGE 124, 78 <114>). In addition to the right to require the presence of members of the Federal Government under Art. 43(1) GG, and
the right to submit questions as well as the right to information, both derived from Art.
38(1) second sentence and Art. 20(2) second sentence GG, the right to inquiry enables the investigation of facts and circumstances that lay the necessary groundwork
for decisions taken by Parliament; it also enables Parliament to effectively exercise its
oversight function over the Federal Government, which is thereby held accountable
to Parliament (cf. BVerfGE 49, 70 <85>; 124, 78 <114>). In this respect, a committee
of inquiry, as an investigative means in the context of political controversy (cf. BVerfGE 105, 197 <225 and 226>), is a specific instrument of parliamentary oversight.
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[…]
108
b) Within the scope of its investigation mandate, the committee of inquiry has the
right pursuant to Art. 44(1) first sentence GG to take any evidence it deems necessary (cf. BVerfGE 67, 100 <127 and 128>; 124, 78 <114>). […]
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The right to request that files be handed over belongs to the core of the right of inquiry. This right to request files from within the Federal Government’s sphere of responsibility does not merely derive from the right to request administrative assistance
(Amtshilfe) under Art. 44(3) GG; it also forms an integral part of the right to parliamen-
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