美国国家公共电台 NPR--The Supreme Court hears pork industry's case against an animal welfare law

The Supreme¹ Court hears pork industry's case against an animal welfare law

Transcript²

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

The nation's pork farmers are taking on California and the Humane³ Society of America in a case argued before the Supreme Court this week. At issue is a California law banning the sale of pork from pregnant and nursing pigs confined to spaces so small they can't turn around. Here's NPR's Nina Totenberg.

NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE⁴: The case is about more than pigs. It's about how much regulation a state may constitutionally enact⁵ when those laws have a significant effect on what happens in other states. In this case, California has fewer than 1% of the pork producers in the country. The state imports more than 99% of the pork meat it consumes. But the voters in the state, by a lopsided margin⁶, voted to ban pork products that come from pregnant and nursing sows who are confined in cages that are so small they can't turn around.

At the heart of the case is the Constitution's commerce clause, aimed in part at promoting interstate commerce and preventing trade wars among the states. Now, that may not sound like a humdinger to a lot of listeners, but the Supreme Court's time limits on arguments seem to have flown out the window of late, and an oral argument that was scheduled for an hour and 10 minutes morphed into well over two hours.

Timothy Bishop⁷, representing the pork producers, conceded that California could ban pork products outright⁸ in the state, but he maintained it could not impose laws that affect what happens in other states. Justice Kagan.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ELENA KAGAN: If you're thinking about costs, California banning your product would be the greatest costs of all.

TIMOTHY BISHOP: We're talking about the impact on the state where the business is located. You know, Iowa has 65,000 sow farms.

TOTENBERG: What California's doing, Bishop said, is essentially⁹ trampling¹⁰ on Iowa's ability to breed those sows. Justice Sotomayor pointed¹¹ to a brief in the case from scientists who argue that keeping sows so confined increases the likelihood of new diseases jumping from animals to humans. And Justice Barrett seemed doubtful about the pork industry's assertion that a state's moral interests should have no role to play.

In that vein¹², there were many hypotheticals. Supposing this case occurred prior to the end of slavery, asked Justice Kagan, could a state ban products produced by enslaved people? Justice Gorsuch asked, why not let the market decide whether California's law would achieve its desired results? After all, he said, there appear to be some pork producers willing and able to step in and meet California's requirements.

Defending California's law, state Solicitor¹³ General Michael Mongan faced just as many tough questions. Several justices noted¹⁴ that a lot of policy disputes could be incorporated into laws like this. What would stop Texas from banning products produced by union labor¹⁵ or another state from banning fruit picked by undocumented workers, or yet another state from banning goods produced by people in a state with a lower minimum wage? Justice Alito.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SAMUEL ALITO: Is California unconcerned about all this because it is such a giant? You can bully¹⁶ the other states, and so you're not really that concerned about retaliation¹⁷.

TOTENBERG: Justice Kagan followed up.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KAGAN: You know, we live in a divided country, and the Balkanization that the framers were concerned about is surely present today. You know, do we want to live in a world where we're constantly at each other's throats and Texas is at war with California and California at war with Texas?

TOTENBERG: The questions were sufficiently¹⁸ difficult that both Justices Kavanaugh and Kagan noted that the case had come to the court at what is known as the pleadings stage - without a trial or findings of fact. That could allow the court to make a minimal¹⁹ decision and send the case back to the lower courts for a fuller exploration.

Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

6 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

7 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

8 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 trampling   

踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯

参考例句：

• Diplomats denounced the leaders for trampling their citizens' civil rights. 外交官谴责这些领导人践踏其公民的公民权。
• They don't want people trampling the grass, pitching tents or building fires. 他们不希望人们踩踏草坪、支帐篷或生火。

11 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

12 vein   

n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络

参考例句：

• The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
• The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。

13 solicitor   

n.初级律师，事务律师

参考例句：

• The solicitor's advice gave me food for thought.律师的指点值得我深思。
• The solicitor moved for an adjournment of the case.律师请求将这个案件的诉讼延期。

14 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

15 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

16 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

17 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

19 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。