Death of Judge Scalia Slows Top American Court

Death of Judge Scalia Slows Top American Court

The U.S. Supreme¹ Court often has the final say on America’s most important legal issues.

In 1973, the court ruled that women have a right to abortion². By 5–4 votes, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal health care law, known as Obamacare, is permitted by the Constitution in 2012 and the court ruled that same-sex couples can marry last June.

But on May 16, the court could not decide an issue it was asked to settle: Could the U.S. government require employers to provide workers with health insurance that pays for birth control?

That question had four judges on one side and four on the other.

With no majority, the Supreme Court asked lower courts to find a compromise. The case put the U.S. government against groups such as the Little Sisters of the Poor, which opposes birth control on religious grounds.

The tie vote has become the new normal for the Supreme Court, since the death in February of conservative Judge Antonin Scalia.

His death left the court’s remaining eight justices divided – with four generally taking the liberal side and four the conservative side.

Democratic President Barack Obama tried to replace Scalia.

But the U.S. Senate, controlled by Republicans, refused to vote on the nominee³, Federal Judge Merrick Garland. Republicans want the next president, who they hope will be a Republican, to choose the next judge.

That means the Supreme Court will be down one judge for months to come. It likely means more tie votes.

“It does seem that short one judge, the Supreme Court will be punting on some important issues,” said Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond Law School. He used the American football term “punt,” which means giving up the football with hopes of scoring points later.

In addition to the birth control case, the Supreme Court also divided 4-4 in a labor⁴ case. The issue before the court was whether government employees could be required to support unions when they disagree with their positions.

And it happened again a few weeks ago when the court divided 4-4 on whether to lift a lower court order blocking Alabama from executing Vernon Madison.

Madison was found guilty of a 1985 murder, but his attorneys said his life should be spared because he has dementia.

When the Supreme Court cannot reach a majority decision, it allows lower court rulings to stand. So, for Madison, it means Alabama still cannot put him to death, based on a lower court ruling blocking his killing⁵.

Based on his earlier decisions, Scalia, had he not died, would probably have voted with the four judges who wanted the death penalty to go forward.

In the union case, the tie vote also means that a lower court ruling stands. That ruling allowed unions to continue collecting money from all employees covered by union contracts.

Given his history on the Supreme Court, Scalia would probably have agreed with the four conservative justices. They said employees should not be required to support unions.

Divided court, divided country

Jonathan Turley is a law professor at George Washington University in Washington D.C. He said the divisions on the Supreme Court are similar to the divisions over politics and policies in Congress and among the American people.

“We are increasingly partisan⁶,” Turley said, talking about the differences between Democrats⁷ and Republicans and liberals and conservatives.

Turley has a proposal to make the Supreme Court larger. He believes it will make the nomination⁸ process less divisive.

With the court divided evenly between conservative and liberal judges, the naming of a single judge could cause a major change in how the court decides cases, Turley said.

Appointments to the Supreme Court are for life – unless a judge decides to leave early – making each nomination even more important.

But if the court had more judges – Turley suggests 19 -- each nomination might not be as hard fought.

It would reduce the importance of individual judges and allow presidents to choose nominees⁹ with broader experience and ideas, Turley said.

It might also allow the court to hear more cases. Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court only takes about 80 of the 7,000 to 8,000 cases filed each year.

A larger Supreme Court would also follow the practice in other countries, such as Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom, Turley said. All have more judges on their top courts than the United States does.

Words in This Story

insurance – n. n agreement in which a person makes regular payments to a company and the company promises to pay money to cover medical expenses or other costs

birth control – n. things that are done to keep a woman from becoming pregnant

spare – v. to choose not to punish or harm

dementia – n. a mental illness that causes someone to be unable to think clearly or to understand what is real and what is not real

contract – n. a legal agreement between people and companies

partisan – adj. a person who strongly supports a particular leader, group, or cause

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 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 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。

6 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

7 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》

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 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