2006年VOA标准英语-Alito Could Shift Balance on US Supreme Co

By Jim Malone
Washington
02 February 2006

This week's Senate confirmation¹ of Justice Samuel Alito to the Supreme² Court could have far-reaching implications for law and politics in the United States.   
 

Samuel Alito  
  
The Senate vote confirming Samuel Alito was largely along party lines and came after contentious³ hearings during which the nominee⁴ was questioned by Democrats⁶ on a range of issues including, abortion⁷, civil rights and the power of the president. 

"The judge's only obligation, and it is a solemn obligation, is to the rule of law," Justice Alito said. "And what that means is that in every single case, the judge has to do what the law requires."

Liberal Democrats in particular waged a fierce battle against the Alito nomination⁸, arguing that President Bush was replacing the court's leading moderate, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, with a committed conservative jurist.  Justice O'Connor was the first woman on the high court and announced her intention to retire last year.
 

Dick Durbin  
  
"A chill wind blows.  A chill wind, which will snuff out the dying light of Sandra Day O'Connor's Supreme Court legacy," said Senator Richard Durbin, a Democrat⁵ from Illinois,

Many legal experts predict that replacing Justice O'Connor with Justice Alito will shift the nine-member Supreme Court in a more conservative direction.

"Abortion regulation, relations between religion and government, questions of capital punishment, affirmative action would be another," said A.E. Dick Howard, an expert on the Supreme Court and constitutional law at the University of Virginia. "There are several different areas in which the court was divided and in which [Justice Sandra Day] O'Connor's vote was often the fifth and critical vote."

John Roberts   
  
Conservatives are thrilled with Justice Alito's ascendancy⁹ to the Supreme Court.  They see his appointment combined with the president's earlier choice of Chief Justice John Roberts as fulfillment of Mr. Bush's campaign promise to appoint conservative judges.

Charles Cooper is a former colleague of Samuel Alito when they both worked in the Justice Department during the Reagan administration.  He says the Senate confirmation hearings helped to build public support for the Alito nomination.

"[They] embraced Sam Alito as a fair-minded, open, honest man of enormous integrity.  A man without a biased¹⁰ bone in his body," he said.

Legal experts caution, however, that Supreme Court justices are not always predictable.

For example, in his first case on the high court, Justice Alito sided with the court's more liberal faction¹¹ to block the execution of a convicted murderer in Missouri.

But many analysts¹² believe the Alito and Roberts appointments represent the continuation of a gradual shift away from the more liberal image of the Supreme Court that stemmed from rulings in the 1960s and 1970s.

"That the hope of a conservative working majority on the court will be more nearly fulfilled," said University of Virginia expert A.E. Dick Howard. "If they bring that about, if that in fact happens across the court's docket [cases], that will be an historic shift from where the court was a generation ago."

The role that Sandra O'Connor had as the court's leading centrist voice is likely now to be filled by Justice Anthony Kennedy.  Justice Kennedy was appointed by President Reagan and although he has a generally conservative voting record, he has agreed with the court's more liberal faction on some cases involving gay rights, abortion and the death penalty. 

1 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。

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 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

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 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

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 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。

8 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

9 ascendancy   

n.统治权，支配力量

参考例句：

• We have had ascendancy over the enemy in the battle.在战斗中我们已占有优势。
• The extremists are gaining ascendancy.极端分子正逐渐占据上风。

10 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

11 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

12 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。