Tomáš Langášek (born 1974 in Kyjov) graduated from the Law School of Charles University of
Prague (1999). He received his LL.M. degree in comparative constitutional law (with Merit) from
the Central European University in Budapest (2000). For part of his studies he was a visiting scholar
at Cornell University Law School in the USA (New York state), focusing on freedom of speech and
constitutional aspects of classifying information for national security purposes.
After completing military service, he worked in 2001-2003 as a lawyer in the Office of the
Ombudsman, and handled requests seeking protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, most
frequently in the areas of the prison service, institutional and protective care and socio-legal
protection of children. From 2002 to 2005 he was a member of the Committee for the Prevention of
Torture and Other Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of the Czech Republic’s
Government Council for Human Rights; since 2002 he has also served the Council as the permanent
deputy of Council member Anna Šabatová. In 2003 he prepared the explanatory report and text of
a proposed amendment to the Act on the Ombudsman, implementing the mechanism of preventive
visits in facilities holding detained persons, for the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic
and for the Government Commissioner for Human Rights, Jan Jařab.
In August, 2003 Constitutional Court Chairman Pavel Rychetský appointed him as his law clerk. He
initiated and led a project to make all Constitutional Court decisions available to the public (the
NALUS database); together with that project, in December, 2006 he was assigned to develop the
Constitutional Court’s analytical department and be its acting director. On 31 December 2008 he
resigned as law clerk to the Chairman of the Constitutional Court, and on 1 January 2009 he was
appointed the secretary general of the Constitutional Court.
In addition to several expert papers, he is co-author of The Act on the Constitutional Court, with
Commentary, published by ASPI, a. s., Prague, 2006, for which he prepared the parts covering
proceedings on constitutional complaints, communal complaints and petitions by political parties,
proceedings on matters of the referendum on the Czech Republic’s accession to the European
Union, and disciplinary proceedings.
