Rudolf Mellinghoff was born in 1954. After completing his studies at the University of
Münster, he completed his
legal apprenticeship in the state of
Baden-Württemberg (1981-84). He remained in Baden-Württemberg as a
research assistant at the
University of
Heidelberg's Institute for
Finance and
Tax Law until 1987, when he moved to
Düsseldorf for his first
judicial appointment. This was followed by four years as a research assistant at the
Bundesverfassungsgericht,
Germany's Federal
Constitutional Court.
He returned to the Düsseldorf Finance Court in 1989, where he remained until accepting a position developing the
administrative legal system in
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, one of the new eastern
states. In 1992, he was appointed to the Finance Court of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and was made
Presiding Judge four years later. This was followed by a promotion first to the Adminstrative Appellate Court of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and then to the State Constitutional Court of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where he served until 1996. In 1997, he was appointed to the ninth
Senat of the Federal Finance Court.
He has served in the second
Senat of the
Federal Constitutional Court since 2001.