美国国家公共电台 NPR--Is the Supreme Court majority ruling on the law or their personal preference?

Is the Supreme¹ Court majority ruling on the law or their personal preference?

Transcript²

Critics say the Supreme Court's conservative supermajority is making ideological³ decision. Curt⁴ Levy⁵ of the Federalist Society tells NPR's Steve Inskeep the justices are following the rule of law.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

You know, I've been reading opinion articles about the Supreme Court. The conservative majority issued many big rulings last month. The biggest of them prompted accusations⁶ that the court has become a Republican legislature imposing⁷ its partisan⁸ opinions. In The Washington Post, Curt Levey made the opposite case, saying the justices are just applying the law. He is on the executive committee of the Federalist Society, which promotes a certain kind of conservative judge.

You write, this court is not ideologically⁹ motivated, which, of course, is hard for some people to accept because they just produced what can easily be seen as Republican outcomes on abortion¹⁰ rights, gun laws and climate regulation. Granted, some rulings have gone the other way, but the big ones all went one way in rapid succession. What's the case that those rulings are not ideological?

CURT LEVEY: Well, the case is that the court - if they wanted to decide all cases with a conservative outcome, they could have, and they didn't. Conservatives were very unhappy with their decision about the Remain in Mexico policy. They turned down a vaccine¹¹ mandate¹² case from New York. So the court could've been 100% conservative outcomes. And it wasn't. And if you look at why, it's because it's a textualist court. Some people like to call it originalist. I prefer the term textualist, but they're often used in the same way. If you want to understand why they ruled one way on guns and another way on abortion, it's because the Constitution contains an explicit¹³ Second Amendment¹⁴ that guarantees the right to keep and bear arms, whereas the Constitution - not only does it not contain a right to abortion. It doesn't even contain a general right to privacy.

INSKEEP: Are they always textualists or only sometimes?

LEVEY: Well, I think in this term, most of the big decisions - they went the textualist way. If what you're asking me is, do they ever show bias¹⁵? - I'm sure they do. Again, this term, I think they were pretty straight down the line.

INSKEEP: In the same paper where you wrote, The Washington Post, there was another article by Adrian Vermeule - he's a law professor - who notes that from his perspective, the court majority abandoned textualism when they felt like it in the ruling against the EPA. There was text in the law that gave the Environmental Protection Agency authority to regulate, but the justices instead used a recent development called the major questions doctrine¹⁶ to say that they can stop a regulation when they feel it goes farther than they understand the law to allow.

LEVEY: Well, it's sort of a narrow version of textualism. If you look at what the Constitution actually says, it gives policymaking authority to Congress. There's no mention of the fourth branch of government that we now have. So even that fourth branch of government, with all the power that it has, is really extra-constitutional. But even so...

INSKEEP: You mean the administrative¹⁷ state, the bureaucracy. Is that what you mean by the fourth branch of government?

LEVEY: Yes, that is exactly what I mean by the fourth branch of government. So, you know...

INSKEEP: But let me just stop you there for a second because there is an executive who is allowed to run the government. And that's what you're referring to as the fourth branch of government. It's the executive. And Congress can delegate authority to them to do things.

LEVEY: Well, again, that's arguable. And I think that on small technical points, you probably do have to defer¹⁸ to bureaucrats¹⁹ as a - you know, as a practical matter. But on major questions, for example, whether an environmental agency was really meant to have the power to - you know, to regulate anything connected to climate change, that's something where people would ordinarily expect Congress to decide it, not bureaucrats.

INSKEEP: But there was language in the law that said that the EPA should come up with the, quote, "best system of emissions²⁰ reduction," which they said they did. And the court majority decided²¹ they shouldn't.

LEVEY: And again, I think, you know, I certainly don't...

INSKEEP: It was the text.

LEVEY: I do not mean to say that there's not, you know, room for debate there. But again, I tend to favor, as an originalist and a textualist - I believe, you know, that where it's not clear, you generally defer to the structure and intent of the Constitution, which is, again, for Congress to make policy.

INSKEEP: And just to be clear, the major questions doctrine is a recent development of conservative legal scholars that does not appear in the Constitution. Is that correct?

LEVEY: There is no - absolutely no mention of the term major questions.

INSKEEP: I wonder if this matter of ruling where it's not needed also is applicable to the abortion ruling. Justice Roberts, who joined part but not all of that ruling, said that it was possible to uphold the Mississippi abortion law that was at issue without completely overturning Roe²² v. Wade²³. And he said that's what he would rather have done, quote, "out of adherence²⁴ to a simple yet fundamental principle of judicial²⁵ restraint, if it is not necessary to decide more to dispose of a case, then it is necessary not to decide more." The other five justices decided they felt like going further to overturn Roe v. Wade, which is something that the presidents who appointed them explicitly²⁶ said they would do.

LEVEY: There is - again, there are countervailing forces there. I think what Roberts said as a general principle is correct. But it's also correct that the whole scheme behind Roe or anything they had come up with now, you know, drawing the line effectively at 15 weeks - because that's what the Mississippi law did. So if they just upheld the Mississippi law without more, we effectively would've had a line at 15 weeks. The problem is there's just no basis for that in the Constitution.

INSKEEP: Is there something revealing in the tone of some of the recent rulings? Justice Alito in the abortion ruling didn't just say that Roe v. Wade was mistaken. He said it was, quote, "egregiously²⁷ wrong." He doesn't only say that other justices are mistaken about this. He says they know they're mistaken. They know he's right. And they're making up arguments to hide the fact that they know that they're wrong. That wasn't in any way neutral language.

LEVEY: No. No. And, you know, sometimes, the opinions do do get heated. I sort of miss the days when they used to read the decisions from the bench because then you could really tell the emotion of the justices. You know, I can only tell you my point of view on this, but I'm not even an abortion activist²⁸. But I always - Roe always frankly²⁹ made me angry because it's such a made-up doctrine. There's just absolutely no basis for it in the Constitution. And so, you know, the fact that it had survived that long really did make me angry. And I have to assume that, you know, Alito and the others felt the same.

INSKEEP: Curt Levey is president of the Committee for Justice and is on the executive committee of the Federalist Society. Thanks so much.

LEVEY: Thank you so much. I enjoyed talking.

(SOUNDBITE OF TINGVALL TRIO'S "COWBOY")

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 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

4 curt   

adj.简短的，草率的

参考例句：

• He gave me an extremely curt answer.他对我作了极为草率的答复。
• He rapped out a series of curt commands.他大声发出了一连串简短的命令。

5 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

6 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

7 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

8 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

9 ideologically   

adv. 意识形态上地，思想上地

参考例句：

• Ideologically, they have many differences. 在思想意识上，他们之间有许多不同之处。
• He has slipped back ideologically. 他思想退步了。

10 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

11 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

12 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

13 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

14 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

15 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

16 doctrine   

n.教义；主义；学说

参考例句：

• He was impelled to proclaim his doctrine.他不得不宣扬他的教义。
• The council met to consider changes to doctrine.宗教议会开会考虑更改教义。

17 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

18 defer   

vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从

参考例句：

• We wish to defer our decision until next week.我们希望推迟到下星期再作出决定。
• We will defer to whatever the committee decides.我们遵从委员会作出的任何决定。

19 bureaucrats   

n.官僚( bureaucrat的名词复数 )；官僚主义；官僚主义者；官僚语言

参考例句：

• That is the fate of the bureaucrats, not the inspiration of statesmen. 那是官僚主义者的命运，而不是政治家的灵感。 来自辞典例句
• Big business and dozens of anonymous bureaucrats have as much power as Japan's top elected leaders. 大企业和许多不知名的官僚同日本选举出来的最高层领导者们的权力一样大。 来自辞典例句

20 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

21 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

22 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

23 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

24 adherence   

n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着

参考例句：

• He was well known for his adherence to the rules.他因遵循这些规定而出名。
• The teacher demanded adherence to the rules.老师要求学生们遵守纪律。

25 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

26 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

27 egregiously   

adv.过份地，卓越地

参考例句：

• But previous Greek governments egregiously violated those limits. 但之前几届希腊政府都严重违反了这些限制。 来自互联网

28 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

29 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。