美国国家公共电台 NPR 5 Things To Watch For In Jeff Sessions' Attorney General Hearings

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: 

The first of President-elect Donald Trump¹'s Cabinet nominees³ gets a hearing this morning. Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions was one of Trump's earliest supporters in Congress, now he's in line to become the next attorney general. But a big question looms⁴ over today's hearing - can a man who was rejected for a federal judgeship 30 years ago for making racially insensitive remarks lead the Justice Department today? With us to talk about this is NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson. Good morning, Carrie.

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE⁵: Hey, Rachel.

MARTIN: So let's go back in time a bit, 1986. This is when the Senate rejected Jeff Sessions for a judgeship. Many senators from both parties took issue with comments that he had made about black lawyers and comments he made about the KKK. Remind us what happened then.

JOHNSON: Lawyers at the Justice Department actually came forward during that process to express concern about a series of statements Jeff Sessions made. One lawyer said Jeff Sessions had called an African-American the word boy. Another said Sessions made a remark about the KKK that he used to think the group was all right until he found out they smoked pot. Now, Sessions denied some of those allegations and said others were just a bad joke. He said people painted a misleading portrait of him.

MARTIN: All right. So now 30 years later, has Jeff Sessions changed or have the views of the Senate changed or both?

JOHNSON: Well, a little bit of both, Rachel. One important thing that's changed is that for the past 20 years, Jeff Sessions has been a United States senator, a member of the club. In fact, he sits on the Judiciary Committee, the same panel that rejected him all those years ago and that will consider him today. He's pretty popular on the Hill. And he has reached across the aisle⁶ on occasion, once even reaching a deal with Democrats⁷ in the Senate gym to overhaul⁸ sentences for drug defendants⁹.

MARTIN: A civil rights movement is afoot. Civil rights groups haven't really forgotten that fight over Sessions from the 1980s, and they're gathering¹⁰ evidence about his record in Congress, evidence that concerns them. What can you tell us about that effort?

JOHNSON: Well, all the reporters on the DOJ beat including me have gotten tons and tons of reports over the last few weeks detailing Sessions' record on the Hill. They're protesting his approach to voting rights. He's called the Voting Rights Act intrusive¹¹. His vote against the Violence Against Women Act, his vote against the Matthew Shepard hate crimes bill and his alleged¹² antipathy¹³ towards same-sex marriage and transgender rights. Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP Legal Defense¹⁴ Fund says lawmakers should be asking this question.

SHERRILYN IFILL: The question is not what is in Jeff Sessions' heart. The question is - what in his record over 40 years suggests that we can trust him to enforce the nation's civil rights laws?

JOHNSON: And Ifill and other leaders including the former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick are really urging lawmakers to dig into that record.

MARTIN: All right. So today begins the first of two days of hearings on Sessions' record. What kind of questions is he likely to get?

JOHNSON: A whole bunch about whether he'll support some of the things that Donald Trump said on the campaign trail. For instance, Sessions and Trump have both said torture works, but the FBI and CIA officials say they don't want to return to those dark days. Sessions also said he supports some kind of ban on Muslims entering the U.S., but there are questions about whether that's discriminating¹⁵ against an entire category of people on the basis of their religion.

MARTIN: Sessions has lined up a lot of support though from law enforcement in particular, former Justice Department officials, too. Who's going to be testifying on his behalf?

JOHNSON: A lot of luminaries¹⁶ - former Judge Michael Mukasey, who served as attorney general under President George W. Bush, former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, another Bush official, and an African-American who says he can attest¹⁷ that Jeff Sessions is not a racist¹⁸. And, Rachel, there's also the head of the Fraternal Order of Police. That's the country's largest police union which is backing Sessions as a friend for cops.

MARTIN: So it sounds like he's got the support he needs. Any chance that Jeff Sessions does not become the next U.S. attorney general?

JOHNSON: Rachel, there's always a chance. You never know if there's going to be a slip up in the way a nominee² answers questions. And in fact late last night, we learned that Cory Booker, a Democratic senator from New Jersey¹⁹, is actually going to testify against Jeff Sessions which doesn't happen very often, if ever. But really for Democrats, the best strategy with these hearings may be to try to get Sessions to make promises to do things or promises not to do things.

Now, one of the things they may try to get Sessions to say is that he'll aggressively investigate any possible conflicts of interest or other corruption²⁰ in the Trump administration. They also as Democrats want him to say they will not - that he will not order the Justice Department to reopen the investigation²¹ into Hillary Clinton.

MARTIN: NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson, thanks.

JOHNSON: You're welcome.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 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。

3 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

4 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 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。

6 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

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 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

9 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

10 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

11 intrusive   

adj.打搅的；侵扰的

参考例句：

• The cameras were not an intrusive presence.那些摄像机的存在并不令人反感。
• Staffs are courteous but never intrusive.员工谦恭有礼却从不让人感到唐突。

12 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

13 antipathy   

n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物

参考例句：

• I feel an antipathy against their behaviour.我对他们的行为很反感。
• Some people have an antipathy to cats.有的人讨厌猫。

14 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

15 discriminating   

a.有辨别能力的

参考例句：

• Due caution should be exercised in discriminating between the two. 在区别这两者时应该相当谨慎。
• Many businesses are accused of discriminating against women. 许多企业被控有歧视妇女的做法。

16 luminaries   

n.杰出人物，名人（luminary的复数形式）

参考例句：

• In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 亚14:6那日、必没有光．三光必退缩。 来自互联网
• Includes household filament light bulbs & luminaries. 包括家用的白炙灯泡和光源。 来自互联网

17 attest   

vt.证明，证实；表明

参考例句：

• I can attest to the absolute truth of his statement. 我可以证实他的话是千真万确的。
• These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place. 这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。

18 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

19 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

20 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

21 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。