After the Bundestag passed the reintroduction of data retention on October 16, 2015 after the second and third readings and the law passed the Bundesrat on November 6, 2015, we submitted an application for a temporary injunction against the reintroduction of data retention to the Federal Constitutional Court on the same day.

The starting point for our constitutional complaint was a demonstration in front of the Federal Chancellery on May 30, 20215, to which the Berlin Bar Association had called under the motto "Lawyers against total surveillance" . Speakers included former Vice President of the Bundestag Burkhard Hirsch, former Data Protection Commissioner Peter Schaar and Hans-Christian Ströbele. Above all, however, the former President of the Berlin Bar Association, Marcus Mollnau, called on the legal profession in a remarkable speech to use its possibilities to take action against data retention. We then took this literally and planned the world's fastest constitutional complaint over the obligatory after-demo drink.

After the Paris attacks, the political climate in the grand coalition at the time changed. The Social Democrats gave up their opposition to the reintroduction of data retention, which had been declared null and void by the Federal Constitutional Court in 2010. It was therefore becoming apparent that a corresponding law would be introduced. In order to make a special statement against this plan, we wanted to take legal action at the earliest possible moment. We therefore shut down normal office operations for three weeks in October 2015 and used all available resources during this time to apply for a temporary injunction. The aim of such an application is to prevent the law from coming into force. We submitted this on November 6, 2015, after the law had passed the Bundesrat. After the law nevertheless entered into force on 18.12.2015, we filed the constitutional complaint on that day.

Our initiative has also been joined by the German Media Association (DMV) e.V. and the DJV German Journalists' Association, Berlin-Brandenburg Regional Association. In addition, a number of journalists, including Tabea Rößner, member of the Bundestag and media policy spokesperson for the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group, who previously worked as a journalist at ZDF, have also submitted motions. The motion was also supported by nine members of the Berlin House of Representatives from various parliamentary groups, including Ramona Pop, the then chairwoman of the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group.

Our initiative has also been joined by the German Media Association (DMV) e.V. and the DJV German Journalists' Association, Berlin-Brandenburg Regional Association. In addition, a number of journalists, including Tabea Rößner, member of the Bundestag and media policy spokesperson for the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group, who previously worked as a journalist at ZDF, have also submitted motions. The motion was also supported by nine members of the Berlin House of Representatives from various parliamentary groups, including Ramona Pop, the then chairwoman of the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group.