There is a long tradition of charging the German federal constitutional court for ongoing transgressions into the sphere of politics. The criticism is especially directed at the observation that the court is increasingly taking over legislative functions. As a consequence, many observers contend that the constitutional court is actually encouraging overarching processes towards a ‘politicization of law’ and ‘juridification of politics’. This article assesses the theoretical soundness of these allegations from the vantage point of Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory. Are there any theoretical arguments in support of these theses? Which concepts could describe the implied transformation processes, the relevant mechanisms at work and the role of the constitutional court? The aim of the paper is to render more explicit the issue of politicisation of law and juridification of politics by the German federal constitutional court as well as to open perspectives for further research and normative reflections on this topic.