US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens Dies

 

John Paul Stevens was one of the longest-serving justices on the U.S. Supreme¹ Court. He was on the court for 35 years, from 1975 to 2010. He retired² at the age of 90.

Stevens died on Tuesday at the age of 99.

The Associated Press reports that Stevens’ political thinking moved left as the court’s ideas moved right. He belonged to the generally conservative Republican Party. Republican president Gerald Ford³ nominated him to the Supreme Court.

He wore bow ties – a kind of neckwear that some Americans connect to conservative or traditional culture. And he himself told the New York Times in 2007, “I don’t think of myself as a liberal at all. I think as part of my general politics, I’m pretty darn conservative.”

When Stevens began his time on the court, he held historically conservative views, criticizing affirmative action and supporting the death penalty. But in time, he changed his mind about both. He also spoke⁴ strongly in favor of some historically liberal ideas, such as abortion⁵ rights and the separation of government and religion.

Early life

Stevens grew up in a wealthy family in Chicago, Illinois. In many ways, his childhood was lucky. His family owned a beautiful hotel. There, Stevens met the famous American pilots Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh. He also saw baseball player Babe Ruth hit a famous home run in the 1932 World Series.

But when Stevens was a teenager, his father was wrongly ruled guilty of a crime. Stevens said later the situation made him want to protect citizens from powerful forces. As a young lawyer, he defended people for free against the police or the government.

Stevens also served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He received an award for being part of a Japanese code-breaking team. The team’s work permitted the U.S. to shoot down a plane carrying the leader of the Japanese Navy. He said the targeted wartime killing⁶ later added to his changing ideas about the death penalty.

Many years later, Stevens added that he did not believe death sentences could be decided⁷ fairly.

Decisions

As a Supreme Court justice, Stevens often made decisions on a case-by-case basis. For example, although he usually defended the rights of individuals, he once permitted city officials to force people out of their homes to support a business project. Stevens defended his reasoning. He said the city was acting⁸ legally, even if it was not acting wisely.

Stevens was also known for defending protesters – but he did not accept abuse of the American flag. He said the flag deserved protection as “a symbol of freedom, of equal opportunity, of religious tolerance⁹.”

In 2000, Stevens notably¹⁰ disagreed when the majority of justices permitted George W. Bush to win the presidency¹¹. He also strongly opposed a 2010 court ruling that ended restrictions¹² on how much money large businesses and unions could spend to influence elections. In Stevens’ thinking, both these decisions threatened Americans’ trust in their system of government.

After he retired from the court at age 90, Stevens spent part of his time in Florida. He played tennis, swam, wrote books, and spoke in public. He was married two times and had four children, nine grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. His two surviving daughters were with him when he died of problems related to a stroke.

I’m Ashley Thompson.

Words in This Story

affirmative action - n. the practice or policy of favoring individuals belonging to groups known to have been discriminated¹³ against previously¹⁴

pretty - adv. to a great degree or extent?

darn - adv. used as a more polite form of damn

code - n. a set of letters, numbers, symbols, etc., that is used to secretly send messages to someone?

view - n. an opinion or way of thinking about something?

abortion - n. a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy¹⁵ and cause the death of the fetus¹⁶

equal opportunity - n. having a chance to succeed without regard to race, religion, etc.

tolerance - n. willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own

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 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

3 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

4 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。

5 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。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 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。

8 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

9 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

10 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

11 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

12 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

13 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

14 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

15 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

16 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。