Biden will lean into his long tenure as a senator to fill Supreme Court vacancy

Biden will lean into his long tenure¹ as a senator to fill Supreme² Court vacancy³

Transcript⁴

President Biden said he's been told that voters don't want him to be the "President Senator." But in filling a vacancy on the Supreme Court, he's going out of his way to court old colleagues.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

When President Biden looked back on his first year in office, he admitted one big tactical error.

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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: The public doesn't want me to be the president-senator. They want me to be the president and let senators be senators.

FADEL: In other words, Biden thought he spent too much time bogged⁵ down in negotiations⁶. But then Biden got a chance to fill a seat on the Supreme Court, and that has Biden once again leaning into his long tenure as a senator. Here's NPR's Scott Detrow.

SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE⁷: Biden sure sounded like a president-senator when he recently sat down with Republican Chuck Grassley and Democrat⁸ Dick Durbin in the Oval Office to talk about the upcoming nomination⁹.

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BIDEN: We've done an awful lot of Supreme Court justices together, Senator Grassley and I, as well as Senator Durbin. And we've worked together on a lot of court nominations¹⁰, overall, but particularly Supreme Court nominees¹¹.

DETROW: Biden even mentioned that he had recently spent time re-reading his old opening statements from past confirmations¹³. The same day, Biden called Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to talk about the nomination process. He's phoned Republican Senator Susan Collins, too. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says Biden isn't walking away from that promise to stay out of legislative¹⁴ details.

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JEN PSAKI: I think what he was referring to in those comments was hours and hours and hours of endless closed-door meetings, as it related to negotiating through the course of the fall. But this is an opening on the Supreme Court, which is a lifetime appointment, something the president takes very seriously.

DETROW: When Biden looks back at his time in the Senate, he often focuses on the bipartisanship. It's what he singled out about Justice Stephen Breyer's time as a Judiciary Committee lawyer.

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BIDEN: He was famous for biking across Washington, virtually every day, for face-to-face meeting with a Republican chief counsel, the ranking Republican counsel. And over breakfast, they discussed what would they do for the country together 'cause, in those days, we tried to do things together.

DETROW: Not always, though. University of Georgia Law Professor Lori Ringhand has written extensively about these nominations.

LORI RINGHAND: The Supreme Court confirmation¹² process has always been responsive to moments of intense partisanship¹⁵. There's never really been a long period of time when this has not had at least some controversy¹⁶ around it.

DETROW: Biden oversaw¹⁷ smooth, bipartisan confirmations for justices like Breyer, but he also shared some of the most contentious¹⁸ hearings in recent memory - the Clarence Thomas confirmation rocked by Anita Hill's sexual harassment¹⁹ allegations and the 1987 Robert Bork confirmation Biden helped scuttle²⁰ by focusing on how Bork viewed privacy rights.

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BIDEN: If they had evidence that a crime was being committed...

ROBERT BORK: How are they going to get evidence that a couple are using contraceptives?

BIDEN: A wiretap.

BORK: Wiretapping?

BIDEN: A wiretap.

DETROW: Ringhand says three main factors go into how contentious a confirmation is - the overall political mood of the country, which party controls the Senate and whether the new justice would flip²¹ the balance of the court. While partisanship feels like it's at an all-time high, in this case Biden's pick wouldn't change the court's numbers. Given that, Brian Fallon doesn't see anything wrong with Biden spending time courting Republicans. That's despite the fact the executive director of Demand Justice has often criticized Democrats²² for not being sharp-elbowed enough on court confirmations.

BRIAN FALLON: There's a difference between, you know, the vast majority of the Republicans voting no on this pick and them going on total war footing on this nomination fight.

DETROW: Fallon also sees Biden's Republican outreach as a way to soothe²³ concerns of more moderate Democrats. In an evenly divided Senate, that's always a critical task, as the Biden White House knows from all of last year's negotiating.

Scott Detrow, NPR News, Washington.

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1 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

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 vacancy   

n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺

参考例句：

• Her going on maternity leave will create a temporary vacancy.她休产假时将会有一个临时空缺。
• The vacancy of her expression made me doubt if she was listening.她茫然的神情让我怀疑她是否在听。

4 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。

5 bogged   

adj.陷于泥沼的v.（使）陷入泥沼， （使）陷入困境( bog的过去式和过去分词 )；妨碍，阻碍

参考例句：

• The professor bogged down in the middle of his speech. 教授的演讲只说了一半便讲不下去了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The tractor is bogged down in the mud. 拖拉机陷入了泥沼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

7 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。

8 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。

9 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。

10 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

11 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

12 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。

13 confirmations   

证实( confirmation的名词复数 )； 证据； 确认； （基督教中的）坚信礼

参考例句：

• Never use transitory dialogs as error messages or confirmations. 绝不要用临时对话框作为错误信息框或确认信息框。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Dismissing confirmations thus becomes as routine as issuing them. 因此关闭确认对话框和发起确认对话框一样成为例行公事。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

14 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

15 Partisanship   

n. 党派性, 党派偏见

参考例句：

• Her violent partisanship was fighting Soames's battle. 她的激烈偏袒等于替索米斯卖气力。
• There was a link of understanding between them, more important than affection or partisanship. ' 比起人间的感情，比起相同的政见，这一点都来得格外重要。 来自英汉文学

16 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

17 oversaw   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He will go down as the president who oversaw two historic transitions. 他将作为见证了巴西两次历史性转变的总统，安然引退。 来自互联网
• Dixon oversaw the project as creative director of Design Research Studio. 狄克逊监督项目的创意总监设计研究工作室。 来自互联网

18 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。

19 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

20 scuttle   

v.急赶，疾走，逃避；n.天窗；舷窗

参考例句：

• There was a general scuttle for shelter when the rain began to fall heavily.下大雨了，人们都飞跑着寻找躲雨的地方。
• The scuttle was open,and the good daylight shone in.明朗的亮光从敞开的小窗中照了进来。

21 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

22 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》

23 soothe   

v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承

参考例句：

• I've managed to soothe him down a bit.我想方设法使他平静了一点。
• This medicine should soothe your sore throat.这种药会减轻你的喉痛。