Carl Schmitt
Kirchheimer was together with Ernst Fraenkel and Franz Leopold Neumann close to Carl Schmitt. In 1932 Kirchheimer published an essay entitled "Legalität und Legitimität" (Legality and Legitimacy) in the socialist journal "Die Gesellschaft" ("Die Gesellschaft, Band 2, Heft 7," 1932). Carl Schmitt adopted this title for a famous essay of the same name. He explicitly referred to Kirchheimer. Schmitt had also repeatedly quoted him elsewhere.