美国国家公共电台 NPR--How questions about Justice Thomas' ethics could harm the Supreme Court's reputation

How questions about Justice Thomas' ethics¹ could harm the Supreme² Court's reputation

Transcript³

For years, as members of Congress and people in the executive branch suffered through embarrassing headlines about ethics lapses⁴, the U.S. Supreme Court seemed to occupy something of a moral high ground. But a bombshell report from ProPublica this month may have changed that. Reporters with ProPublica documented a long relationship between Thomas and Republican donor⁵ Harlan Crow, in which the billionaire showered Thomas and his wife with luxury vacations for more than 20 years.

The Senate Judiciary Committee - which is controlled by Democrats⁶ - plans to hold a hearing on the Supreme Court's ethical⁷ standards, and may even call Justice Thomas to appear. After a meeting of Democrats on the committee Monday night, Committee member Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn), who has been searing in his criticism of Justice Thomas, said he hoped Justice Thomas would appear voluntarily.

The headlines about Justice Thomas keep coming. This week, the Washington Post reported that Thomas continued to claim annual rental⁸ income from a real estate firm that ceased to exist in 2006.

"Taken together with other errors and omissions⁹ on his financial disclosure forms over the years, it's part of a pattern that has raised questions about how seriously he views his responsibility to accurately¹⁰ report details of his finances to the public," Post reporter Emma Brown told NPR's Leila Fadel on Morning Edition.

Thomas has not responded to the Post report on the real estate earnings¹¹. He defended the non-disclosure of Crow's gifts in a statement, saying he'd been advised that gifts from a friend who had no business before the court were not reportable.

But some ethics lawyers reject that. NPR's Michel Martin spoke¹² to two experts: Virginia Canter, chief ethics counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

It's our nation's highest court. And the fact that he was accepting – repeatedly – private plane trips, yacht cruises, luxury resort vacations, without disclosing them, indicates he was in violation¹³ of the Ethics in Government Act, which was an act passed by Congress after Watergate.

The only exception for reporting gifts from friends is something called the personal hospitality exception, and it only applies to food, lodging¹⁴ and entertainment. It does not at all apply to transportation. They can only be accepted from someone with whom he had a personal relationship, and that it was a reciprocal relationship. In other words, as a friend, I invite you over to dinner and you invite me over to dinner. That's reciprocity. But there's no way Justice Thomas and his wife could ever afford these types of gifts, let alone reciprocate¹⁵ them. The fact that they met after he took office completely undermines the argument that it was a pre-existing personal relationship.

On the lower court, federal judges are subject to a misconduct review that would be carried out through a very detailed¹⁶ process. However, there's no similar type of accountability at this time for any member of the Supreme Court, which is why there has been such a strong push by members of Congress for the Supreme Court to adopt a code of conduct that would establish a framework for addressing and investigating misconduct.

Julian Zelizer

There's different modes of enforcement. Obviously, the court could police itself. There could be some kind of internal mechanism¹⁷ of investigation¹⁸, which can happen already. And ideally, that is the best way for the court to handle this. But the other avenue would be legislating¹⁹ this problem. I don't know what kind of mechanism you can set up, but it would be externally put into place rather than just depending on the Chief Justice to do this on their own.

The stories that now surround Justice Thomas are bringing immense questions, not just about him, but about how the Court operates. How do we police what justices do and cannot do, and can we have confidence that justices in the highest court of the land are making decisions based on their interpretation²⁰ of the law rather than their political preferences? I think we're at one of these important, pivotal turning points when the Court has to decide what it's going to do, if anything. And if the court isn't going to do something, will Congress perhaps step in?

I think the American people intuitively understand when officials are potentially engaged in corrupt²¹ activity. They have a visceral reaction to it, there is a line that cannot be crossed, and I think this is probably one of them. By accepting these gifts, the Justice has completely undermined the public's trust in the ability of the court to faithfully and impartially²² discharge their obligations, to apply equal justice under law. The problem here is you really can't put the genie²³ back in the bottle. You can't just have him say, 'I'll go back and report these gifts.' I'm not sure how we restore the integrity of the court after these events have occurred.

Julian Zelizer

We've had moments where the American public can look at behavior that's happened in the past, when it actually shakes some of the partisan²⁴ status quo and leads to a push for some kind of reform. We just had passage, for example, of a reform of the Electoral College system. It was a moderate reform, but it was in the aftermath of what happened in 2020. And there's something about this story. It's so personal, it's so vivid. It could give some fuel to public support for institutional reforms. I think many Americans, including many independents, will understand this is not right for the Court, for the system. And that's how you can get a moment when you can break through an unwillingness²⁵ to change how institutions work.

1 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

2 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。

3 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。

4 lapses   

n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He sometimes lapses from good behavior. 他有时行为失检。 来自辞典例句
• He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. 他可以宽恕突然发作的歇斯底里，惊慌失措，恶劣的莫名其妙的动作，各种各样的失误。 来自辞典例句

5 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

6 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

8 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

9 omissions   

n.省略( omission的名词复数 )；删节；遗漏；略去或漏掉的事（或人）

参考例句：

• In spite of careful checking, there are still omissions. 饶这么细心核对，还是有遗漏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• It has many omissions; even so, it is quite a useful reference book. 那本书有许多遗漏之处，即使如此，尚不失为一本有用的参考书。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

11 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

12 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

13 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

14 lodging   

n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍

参考例句：

• The bill is inclusive of the food and lodging. 账单包括吃、住费用。
• Where can you find lodging for the night? 你今晚在哪里借宿?

15 reciprocate   

v.往复运动；互换；回报，酬答

参考例句：

• Although she did not reciprocate his feelings, she did not discourage him.尽管她没有回应他的感情，她也没有使他丧失信心。
• Some day I will reciprocate your kindness to me.总有一天我会报答你对我的恩德。

16 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

17 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。

18 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

19 legislating   

v.立法，制定法律( legislate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Why are the senators sitting there without legislating? 为什么那些议员们做在那里不立法？ 来自互联网
• From legislating and protecting peasant's interests organizationally. " 从立法和组织上保护农民利益。 来自互联网

20 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

21 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

22 impartially   

adv.公平地，无私地

参考例句：

• Employers must consider all candidates impartially and without bias. 雇主必须公平而毫无成见地考虑所有求职者。
• We hope that they're going to administer justice impartially. 我们希望他们能主持正义，不偏不倚。

23 genie   

n.妖怪，神怪

参考例句：

• Now the genie of his darkest and weakest side was speaking.他心灵中最阴暗最软弱的部分有一个精灵在说话。
• He had to turn to the Genie of the Ring for help.他不得不向戒指神求助。

24 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。

25 unwillingness   

n. 不愿意，不情愿

参考例句：

• Her unwillingness to answer questions undermined the strength of her position. 她不愿回答问题，这不利于她所处的形势。
• His apparent unwillingness would disappear if we paid him enough. 如果我们付足了钱，他露出的那副不乐意的神情就会消失。