Brigitte Bierlein

Brigitte Bierlein (; 25 June 1949 – 3 June 2024) was an Austrian jurist who served as President of the Constitutional Court from 2018 to 2019 and as Chancellor of Austria from 2019 to 2020. An independent, she was the first woman to hold either office.

Bierlein served as the advocate general of the Procurator's Office – essentially the country's chief public prosecutor – from 1990 to 2002, as well as a member of the executive board of the International Association of Prosecutors from 2001 to 2003. In 2003, Bierlein was made a member and the vice president of the Constitutional Court.

Following the Ibiza affair, President Alexander Van der Bellen named Bierlein Chancellor of Austria, after a parliamentary motion of no confidence dismissed the first government of Sebastian Kurz, the first successful motion of no confidence in Austrian modern history. She was the first woman to assume the role, and served until the next government led by Kurz was sworn in, following the legislative election which took place on 29 September 2019.

Early life Brigitte Bierlein was born on 25 June 1949 in Vienna during the Allied occupation of Austria. Her father was a civil servant. Her mother, trained as an artist, was a homemaker. She was educated at the Gymnasium Kundmanngasse, from which she graduated in 1967. However, she ultimately chose to study law instead. Bierlein enrolled at the University of Vienna, receiving her doctorate of law in 1971.

Assenting to the cabinet's recommendation, President Thomas Klestil appointed Bierlein on 21 November 2002, the appointment to be effective 1 January 2003. Once again, Bierlein was the first woman to serve in the role she was being elevated to. In fact, there had been no women at all on the Constitutional Court until 1995.

Bierlein took over from the president of the court, Gerhart Holzinger, when he retired from the bench effective 31 December 2017.

On the initiative of the Freedom Party, the right-of-center first Kurz government moved to turn her interim position into a permanent one. President Alexander Van der Bellen confirmed Bierlein as the new president of the Constitutional Court on 23 February 2018. Bierlein's previous role as vice president passed on to Supreme Court justice Christoph Grabenwarter. Wolfgang Brandstetter, who had formerly been vice chancellor and minister of justice on a People's Party ticket, was appointed to fill the vacancy of the Court. She was seen as solidly right of centre. During her time as a prosecutor, she was noted for her hardline tough-on-crime stance, although her years on the bench have earned her a reputation for civility and for working well with ideological opponents.

Bierlein herself acknowledged both her toughness as a prosecutor and her socially conservative bent in general.

Personal life Bierlein was unmarried and had no children.

Bierlein died following a brief illness on 3 June 2024, 22 days short of her 75th birthday.

Honours

Austrian honours

Foreign honours