美国国家公共电台 NPR--The case of the Supreme Court that just can't seem to stop talking

The case of the Supreme¹ Court that just can't seem to stop talking

Transcript²

The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court have, at least in modern times, been known for their discipline when it comes to talking. But of late, they have been talking and talking ... and talking, sometimes more than doubling the amount of time allotted³ for oral arguments.

On paper, the arguments are not different in length than in decades gone by. In most cases, each side is allotted a half hour, or in some cases five minutes more; in extraordinary cases, where there are multiple major issues, or multiple consolidate⁴ cases, the court will, on occasion, allocate⁵ more time.

The court has a mechanism⁶ to keep the lawyers on the straight and narrow. To alert counsel when there are only five minutes left, a white light goes on at the lectern, and a red light when time's up.

Historically, time for arguments has shrunk

Dating back to the early days of the Republic, Supreme Court advocates sometimes argued their cases for days. Not so in modern times. In 1925, the court imposed a time limit of an hour on each side. In 1970 Chief Justice Warren Burger put in place a shorter limit of a half hour on each side, with additional time allotted in certain circumstances. The court has always been quite strict about enforcing its allotted time limits. In the '80s and '90s, then Chief Justice William Rehnquist literally⁷ stopped lawyers mid-sentence when the red light went on. His one-time clerk, the current chief justice, John Roberts, allowed a tad more leeway when he succeeded Rehnquist in 2005, but not more than a few minutes.

Now arguments are expanding

Yet, this term, while most cases were scheduled for 60 minutes total, and three cases were scheduled for 90 minutes or slightly longer, the court, on average for all cases, asked questions for an additional 31 more minutes over the allotted time.

Additionally, in the big cases, the justices ran long by, on average, 80%. And with three sittings now completed, the trend continues steadily⁸ upward.

So what accounts for this change in behavior?

Basically, it dates back to the pandemic lockdown. Remember that the justices continued to hear arguments, but by phone, because they thought Zoom⁹ wasn't safe from crashers and crashing. But when you hear arguments by phone, you can't see each other. So, to prevent the justices from constantly interrupting each other, the questioning went in order of seniority, with each justice allotted just a few minutes, instead of the usual free-for-all.

When they returned to the bench in 2021, they could now see each other again, but instead of returning to the old discipline, they started to speak longer and longer. And, the system that now exists at the court is that for however long a lawyer has — let's say, a half hour — he or she faces the basic free-for-all that used to exist pre-pandemic. But instead of the oral argument ending there, the justices do a whole second round, with each justice going in order of seniority, followed by a final check from the chief justice to make sure his colleagues have no more question.

The numbers are pretty amazing

To get a picture of what it's like, let's take the last sitting in which there were nine cases argued over six days. Three were big cases: one involving the so-called independent state legislature theory; another involving public accommodations laws that require equal treatment for everyone, including same-sex couples, and a third was an important immigration case.

Although the two previous sittings also had major cases, at this last sitting, the numbers were the worst to date. The big case arguments lasted more than twice as long as scheduled. To be precise, a whopping 107% longer than scheduled. The same-sex marriage case, with 70 minutes allotted for argument, lasted instead for 141 minutes; the independent state legislature case, with 90 minutes allotted for argument, lasted instead for 174 minutes; and the immigration case, scheduled for the usual 60 minutes, ran a stupendous 136 minutes.

Indeed, as this reporter once joked, "I hear that there was a major disturbance¹⁰ this morning at Arlington National Cemetery¹¹ ... it was the late Chief Justice Rehnquist turning over in his grave."

But the truth is that while the lengthy¹² arguments make it much more difficult for reporters to meet their deadlines, the justices like it this way. They like that they don't leave an argument with some of their questions unanswered. And therefore the chief justice doesn't impose the discipline of the clock, even when the justices are more than an hour over the allotted time.

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 allotted   

分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I completed the test within the time allotted . 我在限定的时间内完成了试验。
• Each passenger slept on the berth allotted to him. 每个旅客都睡在分配给他的铺位上。

4 consolidate   

v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并

参考例句：

• The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
• The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。

5 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

6 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

8 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

9 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

10 disturbance   

n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调

参考例句：

• He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
• You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。

11 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

12 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。