http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=60271
--- Comment #1 from Marc Glisse <glisse at gcc dot gnu.org> --- In my opinion, the sensible thing to do is add constexpr to max_element (and the __ops helpers) once the front-end supports it, not duplicate the code in max(initializer_list). Well, since max_element is just one line calling __max_element, there isn't that much code duplicated, but on the principle... Did you file an LWG issue about this?