美国国家公共电台 NPR Frustrated Supreme Court Looks For A Solution To Partisan Gerrymandering

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

The curtain rises today on Act 2 of extreme partisan¹ gerrymandering, a play in three acts currently onstage at the U.S. Supreme² Court. NPR's legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg updates the plotline of the biggest legal controversy³ now pending⁴ before the nation's highest court.

NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE⁵: Act 1 opened the first week in October when the nine justices heard arguments in a case testing whether there's any constitutional limit to partisan gerrymandering, the practice of drawing legislative⁶ district lines to maximize and perpetuate⁷ the power of the incumbent⁸ party. At issue in the case - the Republican gerrymander of the Wisconsin state Legislature, a design that delivered nearly two-thirds of the districts to the GOP even as Republicans lost the statewide vote. Act 2 opens today as the court hears arguments in a second gerrymandering case, this one from Maryland, which the justices decided⁹ to review more than two months after the arguments in the Wisconsin case were completed. Just why the court added the second case and so much later is unclear. Speculation¹⁰ has centered on two theories, one legal and one political. The political explanation was spurred by this comment from Chief Justice John Roberts at the Wisconsin argument.

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JOHN ROBERTS: If you're the intelligent man on the street, and the court issues a decision, and let's say, OK, the Democrats¹¹ win, the intelligent man on the street is going to say, it must be because the Supreme Court preferred the Democrats over the Republicans. And that's going to come out one case after another as these cases are brought in every state. And that is going to cause very serious harm to the status and integrity of the decisions of this court in the eyes of the country.

TOTENBERG: Now, as it happens, while the Wisconsin case involves a redistricting that strongly favors the Republicans, the Maryland redistricting under scrutiny¹² today favors the Democrats. The Democratic leadership in the state drew the congressional district lines to make it more difficult for the GOP to prevail in one of the two traditionally Republican districts in the state. The result is that, today, just one of Maryland's eight members of Congress is a Republican. Bottom line - it could be that optics is part of the reason the court added a second gerrymandering case to its docket so that in one case, the Republicans would prevail, and in the other, the Democrats would.

There are other differences between the two cases. The Maryland challengers object to only one district's design, while the Wisconsin challengers object to the whole state's redistricting. That said, though, drawing new lines for one district would, of necessity, have ripple¹³ effects, changing the lines in many other districts, too. Another difference is the major legal argument. The Wisconsin challengers argue that extreme gerrymandering deprived Democratic Party voters of the equal protection of the law guaranteed by the Constitution, while the Maryland challengers contend that the gerrymander there deprives Republicans of their First Amendment¹⁴ rights by making their speech, their votes less valuable. But each of these arguments feeds into the other, and statistical¹⁵ analyses suggests that each argument, if adopted, would produce pretty much the same results.

The First Amendment argument, however, appeals in particular to the justice whose vote is likely to decide the case, Justice Anthony Kennedy. In 2004, he provided the fifth vote for the court staying out of partisan gerrymandering cases, but he made clear that he remained open to finding a way to measure what is unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering. And he specifically mentioned the First Amendment notion that government action cannot punish people based on partisan affiliation¹⁶. Election expert Rick Hasen says that Kennedy, 81, knows he will not be on the court forever.

RICK HASEN: It's put-up-or-shut-up time. Either he's going to say, we've got to start policing this, or he has to recognize that what's going to happen in the next round to 2020 is going to look a lot worse than what we've seen in this round. That is, it's going to be no holds barred, squeeze out whatever you can in favor of your party and against the other party.

TOTENBERG: Act 3 of this drama - well, that's likely to come in June when the Supreme Court finishes writing it. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

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1 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。

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 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。

4 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

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 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。

7 perpetuate   

v.使永存，使永记不忘

参考例句：

• This monument was built to perpetuate the memory of the national hero.这个纪念碑建造的意义在于纪念民族英雄永垂不朽。
• We must perpetuate the system.我们必须将此制度永久保持。

8 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

11 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》

12 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。

13 ripple   

n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进

参考例句：

• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
• The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来，碎在沙滩上。

14 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

15 statistical   

adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table.他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• They're making detailed statistical analysis.他们正在做具体的统计分析。

16 affiliation   

n.联系，联合

参考例句：

• There is no affiliation between our organization and theirs,even though our names are similar.尽管两个组织的名称相似，但我们之间并没有关系。
• The kidnappers had no affiliation with any militant group.这些绑架者与任何军事组织都没有紧密联系。