All former socialist states in Central and Eastern Europe have the constitutional goal of transforming into democratic constitutional states. The author analyzes this transformation process, paying special attention to the initial situation and the actual process of restructuring. The starting point is the thesis that the socialist states were states of injustice. Chris Mögelin first presents the self-understanding of the socialist state and legal order in Russia and the USSR, demonstrating that the Soviet state did not fulfill the formally-materially qualified procedural legitimacy model and can thus rightly be referred to as a state of injustice. Based on the developed concepts, the author then analyzes the transformation process towards a democratic constitutional state through in-depth investigations.