时代周刊:终审法院(3)（在线收听）

The lawsuits have only just begun. On Nov. 4, Bill Stepien, Trump's campaign manager, noting the close margins in Wisconsin, called the state "recount territory." "There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results," he said. Pennsylvania is also likely "ground zero" for coming election-related litigation, experts say. The commonwealth's 20 electoral votes make it the biggest prize of all the remaining battleground states, and its decision to expand access to mail-in voting for the first time this election cycle opens the door to lawsuits. The two lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign on Nov. 4 are likely just the beginning.

诉讼才刚刚开始。11月4日，特朗普的竞选经理比尔·斯特皮恩指出威斯康辛州微小的胜负差距，称该州是应该“重新计票的地区”。他说：“有报道称威斯康辛州的几个县存在违规行为，这使人们对选举结果的有效性产生了严重怀疑。”专家说，宾夕法尼亚州也有可能成为即将到来的与选举有关的诉讼的“起点”。联邦的20张选举人票使之成为所有剩下的战场州中最大的赢家，而它第一次在该选举周期中扩大邮寄投票的范围也打开了诉讼的大门。特朗普竞选团队在11月4日提起的两项诉讼可能只是个开始。

The state has already been the target of multiple Republican-backed lawsuits, with mixed results. In mid-September, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that mail-in ballots could be accepted through Nov. 6. Republicans tried twice to get the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, and while the Justices declined to rule, they left open the possibility of hearing the case at a later date. If Pennsylvania is very close, says Potter, lawsuits are much more likely to occur because "both candidates will be fighting over which ballots to count."

该州已经成为多起共和党支持的诉讼目标，结果好坏参半。9月中旬，宾夕法尼亚州最高法院裁定邮寄选票在11月6日前可以接受。共和党人曾两次试图让美国最高法院进行干预，尽管大法官们拒绝作出裁决，但他们并没有排除晚些时候审理此案的可能性。波特表示，如果(两位候选人)在宾夕法尼亚州的票数非常接近，那么很有可能发生诉讼，因为“两位候选人将为计票而战。”

Pennsylvania's election officials also recently ordered ballots arriving after 8 p.m. on Election Day or without definitive time stamps to be "segregated" from the rest of the ballots—a move that, election experts say, suggests they are anticipating a postelection legal challenge to such ballots. On Election Day, local Republicans filed suit challenging the commonwealth's rules allowing voters to recast ballots after their first ones were disqualified.

宾夕法尼亚州的选举官员最近还下令，选举日晚上8点后或没有明确时间标识的选票将与其他选票进行“隔离”。选举专家表示，这一举动表明这类选票预计将在选举后面临法律挑战。选举日当天，当地共和党人提起诉讼，挑战联邦允许选民在首次投票被取消资格后重新投票的规定。

As the lawyers sharpen their arguments, they are most certainly looking at how judges on both the appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court have ruled. In prior preelection cases, judicial opinions have most often rested on one of two principles. The first is that courts should not make decisions that change the rules of voting and ballot counting too close to an election, to avoid confusing people. The second is that state legislatures—not judges—should determine election laws, even if those laws may result in some voters not having their ballots counted. "Federal courts have no business disregarding those state interests simply because the federal courts believe that later deadlines would be better," Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote on Oct. 26 in a controversial opinion upholding Wisconsin's Election Day deadline for receiving mail-in ballots.

在律师们提出尖锐论点的同时，他们肯定也在关注上诉法院和美国最高法院的法官如何裁决。在以前的选举前案件中，司法意见通常基于以下两项原则中的一项。第一，法院不应该做出改变投票规则和选票统计距离选举太近的决定，以免让人感到困惑。第二，其次，即便可能导致一些选民的选票无法计算，选举法也应当由州立法机构而不是法官来决定。最高法院法官布雷特·卡瓦诺在10月26日发表了一份有争议的意见，支持威斯康辛州在选举日截止日期收到邮寄选票。该意见书中写道：“联邦法院无权无视这些州的利益，因为联邦法院认为截止日期晚一点会更好。”