German extradition to the United States is constitutional law first - Grundgesetz Article 16(2) blocks surrender of German nationals to non-EU states, including America. For everyone else, the Oberlandesgericht reviews the package and the Federal Government decides surrender under the 1978 bilateral treaty and US-EU overlays. Death-penalty assurances sit at the center of high-stakes files. Tax, sanctions, and cyber theories still need dual-criminality precision for non-nationals. Spodek Law Group P.C. maps nationality status before anyone sells a passport myth. Risk-free consultation. Call 212 300 5196 - attorney on call, 24/7.
GG Article 16(2) - German nationals do not go to non-EU America.
The Basic Law protects German nationals from extradition to non-EU countries. The United States is non-EU. That bar is structural, not discretionary charm. Families hear that cooperation politics override the Constitution. They do not. For nationals, domestic prosecution channels may appear instead of surrender. Fix citizenship and offense timing before treating Berlin as a layover to Newark.
OLG review then Federal Government - two different records.
The Oberlandesgericht tests legality, dual criminality, specialty, and human-rights compatibility under the 1978 framework and EU law overlays. The Federal Government then decides diplomatic surrender. Document defects belong in the OLG file. Assurance language and proportionality belong in the executive track. Build both or you argue the wrong defects while custody clocks run in Munich or Frankfurt.
1978 treaty and US-EU practice - modern paper still has gaps.
Germany and the United States operate under the 1978 bilateral treaty within broader US-EU cooperation culture. Summaries travel well on embassy cables and poorly when OLG counsel forces offense-by-offense matching. Creative conspiracy wrappers fail when German criminal analogs do not line up. We treat every translated page as a fight document for both Berlin procedure and later US specialty limits.
Death assurances and sentence-risk overlays.
When US theories carry capital or extreme sentence exposure, Germany demands assurances that the death penalty will not be imposed or carried out. Assurances drafting is contested territory, not embassy boilerplate. Overbroad murder or terrorism labels can reopen assurance fights after you thought the package was sealed. We force US charging into boxes that support valid assurance language.
Tax, sanctions, and cyber packages for non-nationals.
US requests aimed at Germany increasingly stack tax evasion, sanctions-busting, and intrusion theories against non-German targets. Dual criminality still governs whether those labels extradite. Sanctions narratives create political heat that agents use to rush waivers. Heat is not a German offense. You need German counsel for OLG practice and US counsel for SDNY or DNJ exposure. Spodek Law Group P.C. coordinates both under one privilege umbrella.
