美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump's Supreme Court Nominee Skeptical Of Federal Agency Power

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

At most Supreme¹ Court confirmation² hearings, you hear a lot about divisive social issues - abortion³, affirmative action, same-sex marriage. And the hearings next week on Supreme Court nominee⁴ Neil Gorsuch will be no exception. But senators are likely to spend a lot of time on the nominee's views about federal regulations, on the environment, health and safety laws for workers, and laws on consumer rights and business.

As NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports, these are subjects that may sound mundane⁵, but they affect the lives of millions of Americans.

NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE⁶: Essentially⁷, this story is about a doctrine⁸ known as Chevron⁹ deference¹¹ - no, don't turn this off. Give me a chance to explain.

The Chevron decision is perhaps the most often cited case in American law. Decided¹² unanimously in 1984, it established a general rule of deferring¹³ to an agency's reasonable interpretation¹⁴ of a statute¹⁵. The idea is that in passing a law, Congress sets out broad provisions and tells agencies that have considerable expertise¹⁶ to establish rules for carrying out the law's mandates¹⁷. In short, the agency is to fill in the details.

Here's how the Chevron case came about. When the Reagan administration took office in the early 1980s, it adopted new and more permissive rules for air pollution by manufacturing plants. The Natural Resources Defense¹⁸ Council sued the EPA, then under the leadership of Anne Gorsuch, contending the agency had exceeded its authority.

Recognize that name, Gorsuch? Yep, her son is the current Supreme Court nominee. Back then, the Supreme Court ultimately sided with the Reagan administration and Anne Gorsuch, declaring that where a statute is ambiguous, the court should defer¹⁰ to an agency's reasonable interpretation.

Ironically, Judge Gorsuch has increasingly criticized that rule as an abdication¹⁹ of judicial²⁰ responsibility. And in some of his dissenting²¹ and concurring²² opinions, he has called for reconsideration of the Chevron decision. It's one of the ways in which he is more conservative than the justice he's been nominated to succeed, the late Antonin Scalia.

Scalia was generally an advocate of Chevron deference to agencies. His view was that agencies are at least politically accountable and judges are not. But as Case Western Reserve professor Jonathan Adler points out...

JONATHAN ADLER: Chevron can cut both ways. An agency may want Chevron deference when it wants to regulate more. But under the Trump²³ administration, agencies will want to claim Chevron deference when they're trying to deregulate.

TOTENBERG: And many Gorsuch defenders²⁴ argue that having someone on the court less deferential²⁵ to the agencies should reassure²⁶ those who don't trust the Trump administration. Notre Dame²⁷ law professor Jeffrey Pojanowski.

JEFFREY POJANOWSKI: It would be harder for a Trump administration to act independently when the law is unclear and the courts ultimately disagree with what their interpretation is.

TOTENBERG: But Elliot Mincberg of the liberal People for the American Way argues Gorsuch himself is, quote, "incredibly inconsistent" - that he sides with agencies when they rule in favor of business and against agencies when they rule in favor of workers or consumers. Mincberg has looked at all of the Gorsuch dissents²⁸.

ELLIOT MINCBERG: Any judge's dissents are particularly interesting because dissents are written essentially for yourself and express your point of view. And they show where you disagree with your own colleagues. And in Gorsuch's case, even though the 10th Circuit until fairly recently was a majority Republican circuit, Gorsuch is consistently to the right of even staunch conservatives.

TOTENBERG: Perhaps no Gorsuch opinion sticks in the craw of liberals more than the so-called frozen trucker case. The trucker Alphonse Maddin was transporting cargo²⁹ through Illinois when the brakes on his trailer froze. The temperature outside was 27 below zero. He called the company to send help. But after three hours, he was getting desperate.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ALPHONSE MADDIN: I could not feel my feet. My speech was slurred³⁰, and I was having trouble breathing. I started having thoughts that I was going to die.

TOTENBERG: So with great difficulty, Maddin unhitched the trailer and drove away, returning about 15 minutes later when help arrived. He was fired by the company, which the Labor³¹ Department later ruled a violation³² of federal law. A federal appeals court panel agreed, ruling against the company and citing language in the statute that protects workers who refuse to operate a vehicle out of safety concerns. Gorsuch dissented³³.

Gorsuch critic Caroline Fredrickson of the American Constitution Society argues that for a judge who preaches about adhering to the text of a statute, this was a particularly indefensible decision.

CAROLINE FREDRICKSON: What was, you know, particularly disturbing is, I think, you know, for a textualist to pretty much dismiss the text of the statute

TOTENBERG: Conservative Ed Whelan defends the Gorsuch opinion.

ED WHELAN: Well, he did not operate his truck. He abandoned his truck.

TOTENBERG: More central yet is the question of whether outside of the agency context Gorsuch would be likely to defer to the president. Again, Elliot Mincberg.

MINCBERG: When it comes to a president like President Trump, there's a very big difference between the kind of authority that administrative³⁴ agencies exercise, which is in essence delegated from Congress, and the kind of authority that a president exercises, which is executive power itself. And in those areas, Judge Gorsuch has shown himself increasingly deferential to the chief executive officer.

TOTENBERG: Ultimately, there's no getting away from the fact that the Supreme Court is the ultimate check on the other branches of government. But as professor Richard Hasen of the University of California, Irvine puts it...

RICHARD HASEN: The justices are chosen because they have a certain ideology³⁵. And that ideology lines up with what the partisans³⁶ in Congress - in the Senate and what the presidents want. And so Neil Gorsuch is being chosen not because he's a Republican party hack³⁷ - far from it. I think he's a principled conservative. But the way he's going to vote is going to line up with what Republican partisans want.

TOTENBERG: Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

(CHRISTIAN SCOTT AND ATUNDE ADJUAH'S "THE CORNER")

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 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

3 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。

4 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

5 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

6 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。

7 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。

8 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。

9 chevron   

n.V形臂章；V形图案

参考例句：

• He wore shoulderstrap rank slides with sergeant's chevrons.他佩戴标示级别的肩章，上面有中士的V形标志。
• The chevron or arrow road sign indicates a sharp bend to the left or right.V形或箭头路标表示有向左或向右的急转弯。

10 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。

11 deference   

n.尊重，顺从；敬意

参考例句：

• Do you treat your parents and teachers with deference?你对父母师长尊敬吗？
• The major defect of their work was deference to authority.他们的主要缺陷是趋从权威。

12 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。

13 deferring   

v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的现在分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从

参考例句：

• Recently, the Supreme Court has focused on an additional reason for deferring to administrative agencies. 最近，最高法院强调了尊重行政机构的另一种理由。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Think of it as deferring part of the compiler's job to runtime. 可以认为这是将编译器的部分工作延迟到了运行时。 来自互联网

14 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。

15 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。

16 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

17 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

18 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

19 abdication   

n.辞职；退位

参考例句：

• The officers took over and forced his abdication in 1947.1947年军官们接管了政权并迫使他退了位。
• Abdication is precluded by the lack of a possible successor.因为没有可能的继承人，让位无法实现。

20 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。

21 dissenting   

adj.不同意的

参考例句：

• He can't tolerate dissenting views. 他不能容纳不同意见。
• A dissenting opinion came from the aunt . 姑妈却提出不赞同的意见。

22 concurring   

同时发生的，并发的

参考例句：

• Concurring with expectations, the degree of polymorphism was highest in the central. 正如所料，多型性程度在中部种群中最高。
• The more an affect arises from a number of causes concurring together, the greater it is. 同时凑合起来以激起一个情感的原因愈多，则这个情感将必愈大。

23 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

24 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

25 deferential   

adj. 敬意的，恭敬的

参考例句：

• They like five-star hotels and deferential treatment.他们喜欢五星级的宾馆和毕恭毕敬的接待。
• I am deferential and respectful in the presence of artists.我一向恭敬、尊重艺术家。

26 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

27 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

28 dissents   

意见的分歧( dissent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Even his dissents were widely quoted, and some prompted legislative changes. 甚至他那些异议也被广泛引用，而且有的还促成了法律上的修改。

29 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

30 slurred   

含糊地说出( slur的过去式和过去分词 )； 含糊地发…的声； 侮辱； 连唱

参考例句：

• She had drunk too much and her speech was slurred. 她喝得太多了，话都说不利索了。
• You could tell from his slurred speech that he was drunk. 从他那含糊不清的话语中你就知道他喝醉了。

31 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。

32 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。

33 dissented   

不同意，持异议( dissent的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• We dissented from the decision. 对那项决定我们表示了不同意见。
• He dissented and questioned the justice of the award. 他提出质问，说裁判不公允。

34 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。

35 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

36 partisans   

游击队员( partisan的名词复数 )； 党人； 党羽； 帮伙

参考例句：

• Every movement has its partisans. 每一运动都有热情的支持者。
• He was rescued by some Italian partisans. 他被几名意大利游击队员所救。

37 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。