美国国家公共电台 NPR President Trump Gets A Head Start On Shaping The Federal Courts

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

President Trump¹ is moving quickly to put his nominees² in the federal courts. Today the president nominated five people to serve on federal appeals courts and five more to serve on lower courts. There's an unusually large number of vacancies³ in the federal courts. That means Trump has an opportunity to have a significant impact early in his term. Here's NPR's Scott Horsley.

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE⁴: President Trump campaigned on the promise that he would appoint conservative judges to the bench. He even released a list of potential candidates for the Supreme⁵ Court. Two of today's nominees are drawn⁶ from that list. John Malcolm of The Heritage Foundation says all 10 seemed to be cut from similar judicial⁷ cloth.

JOHN MALCOLM: They're all highly regarded in conservative legal circles and by practitioners⁸ in the states where they reside.

HORSLEY: Malcolm, who helped to formulate⁹ Trump's judicial list, says all 10 of the president's nominees would make excellent federal judges. And with more than a hundred other vacancies left to fill on the federal bench, Malcolm says today's picks are just a down payment.

MALCOLM: Starting with a Supreme Court vacancy¹⁰ which has now been filled, President Trump certainly has a very good opportunity early on in his administration to leave an impact on the federal bench.

HORSLEY: Indeed, Trump came into office with a chance to fill more than twice as many court vacancies as President Obama had. Russell Wheeler, who tracks court nominations¹¹ at the Brookings Institution, says that's partly because for the last two years, the Republican-controlled Senate dragged its feet.

During the final two years of the Bush, Clinton and Reagan administrations, senators confirmed more than 60, 70 or 80 federal judges even though the Senate was controlled by the rival party. But in the last two years of the Obama administration, Wheeler says senators confirmed less than a third that many.

RUSSELL WHEELER: Just as they held the Merrick Garland seat open on the Supreme Court, they also held open an awful lot of vacancies on the district courts and the court of appeals.

HORSLEY: Vacancies the new president now gets to fill. Trump acknowledged that strategy at last month's swearing-in ceremony for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I especially want to express our gratitude¹² to Senator Mitch McConnell for all that he did to make this achievement possible. So thank you, Mitch.

HORSLEY: The Heritage Foundation's Malcolm cautions it wasn't a slam dunk. Had Hillary Clinton won the election, she might now be packing in the courts with a slate¹³ of more liberal judges.

MALCOLM: So it took some guts¹⁴ and some daring on behalf of Senator McConnell, and it paid off.

HORSLEY: All presidents leave a mark on the courts, especially if they serve for two terms. But with so many early vacancies, Trump has a chance to accelerate his impact, quickly chipping away at the narrow Democratic advantage that Obama left on the federal bench.

Wheeler says 51 percent of the current judges were appointed by Democrats¹⁵. While that partisan¹⁶ pedigree is not always predictive of how judges will rule, Trump has made no secret the kind of judicial philosophy he's looking for.

WHEELER: We can assume that the Trump administration is going to continue to nominate judges, certainly for the Court of Appeals, who have fairly strong conservative credentials¹⁷. So I would look for more of the same. But the big variable will be whether or not the Democratic senators can put a brake on it.

HORSLEY: Senate Democrats gave up the right to filibuster¹⁸ nominees for the lower courts, but there is still a tradition that nominees should not be confirmed over the objection of their home-state senator. Three of the nominees on Trump's list came from states with Democratic senators. They've promised close scrutiny¹⁹ of those nominees if that genteel tradition survives. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

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 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

3 vacancies   

n.空房间( vacancy的名词复数 )；空虚；空白；空缺

参考例句：

• job vacancies 职位空缺
• The sign outside the motel said \"No Vacancies\". 汽车旅馆外的招牌显示“客满”。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 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。

6 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

7 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

8 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

9 formulate   

v.用公式表示；规划；设计；系统地阐述

参考例句：

• He took care to formulate his reply very clearly.他字斟句酌，清楚地做了回答。
• I was impressed by the way he could formulate his ideas.他陈述观点的方式让我印象深刻。

10 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。

11 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

12 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

13 slate   

n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢？

14 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 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》

16 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。

17 credentials   

n.证明，资格，证明书，证件

参考例句：

• He has long credentials of diplomatic service.他的外交工作资历很深。
• Both candidates for the job have excellent credentials.此项工作的两个求职者都非常符合资格。

18 filibuster   

n.妨碍议事，阻挠；v.阻挠

参考例句：

• A senator dragged the subject in as a filibuster.一个参议员硬把这个题目拉扯进来，作为一种阻碍议事的手法。
• The democrats organized a filibuster in the senate.民主党党员在参议院上组织了阻挠议事。

19 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。