美国国家公共电台 NPR Sen. Grassley Says Report On Sexual Harassment In Judiciary Simply Kicks The Can

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

So the U.S. Supreme¹ Court building is directly across the street from the U.S. Capitol. But yesterday, the two branches of government were at odds² over who should direct how the judicial³ branch deals with sexual harassment⁴. Here's NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg.

NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE⁵: In late 2017, Federal Appeals Court Judge Alex Kozinski stepped down amid widespread allegations in the press that he sexually harassed⁶ female law clerks. In the wake of the charges, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed a special 9-member working group, a majority of them women. Their charge - to make recommendations for how the judicial branch handles sexual harassment in the workplace.

Two weeks ago, the working group report was released. It called for changes in how harassment complaints are filed and investigated and a change in all employee materials to make clear that the confidentiality⁷ of judicial deliberations does not extend to misconduct by a judge. Other recommendations were for whistleblower protections, a complaint hotline and a public reporting of statistics on complaints and how they were resolved. Within days of the report being issued, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley announced his dissatisfaction. And yesterday, at a hearing on the subject, he threw down the gauntlet.

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CHUCK GRASSLEY: The judicial branch has a problem. They have to deal with it, or Congress will have to do it for the courts.

TOTENBERG: The working group's recommendations, he said, were insufficient⁸.

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GRASSLEY: It was a real chance to undertake reforms. But in too many ways, this vague report kicks that can down the road.

TOTENBERG: It should be said that for more than a decade, Grassley has pushed his proposal that there be an inspector⁹ general to ride herd¹⁰ on the judiciary, in much the way inspectors¹¹ general in the executive branch investigate and audit¹² executive branch departments. But James Duff, the director of the Administrative¹³ Office of the U.S. Courts, who led the judicial working group, pushed back hard on that suggestion, calling it unnecessary.

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JAMES DUFF: We perform the same functions of an inspector general in our offices - at the Administrative Office of the Courts. We spend millions of taxpayer¹⁴ dollars every year on independent, outside audits¹⁵.

TOTENBERG: Moreover, he said of the inspector general proposal...

DUFF: It's unconstitutional.

TOTENBERG: Nobody asked him why. But the thinking in the judicial branch is that under the Constitution's separation of powers, Congress cannot tell the judiciary what to do. And while Duff didn't say that, you can be sure he wouldn't have made such a categorical statement without consulting the chief justice and possibly other members of the judiciary.

Duff, however, admitted without reservation that the current system for handling harassment complaints is not working. Indeed, he said, there were zero sexual harassment complaints filed in 2017. As a member of the chief justice's working group, he said, he'd learned that many employees have been discouraged from reporting harassment, told that the complaint would have to be reported to the chief judge of their court who might well be a friend of the accused judge. That's why, he said, the working group recommended a variety of ways to report harassment outside of the judicial circuit, including a separate office in Washington, D.C.

There are 30,000 employees in the judicial branch of the federal government. Only a small fraction are judges or law clerks. But they were the focus of this hearing. Jenny Yang, former chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said the judiciary has a number of risk factors that are powerful predictors of harassment.

JENNY YANG: These include significant power disparities, employees new to the workforce¹⁶, isolated¹⁷ workplaces and workforces¹⁸ where men historically dominate leadership posts.

TOTENBERG: It's difficult to create a trusted and independent process when the judiciary is regulating itself, she added. Jaime Santos, a former law clerk who's been working with various law clerk associations, said she's heard about currently sitting judges who have engaged in sexual misconduct in the past several months. Pressed as to why there is now pressure for change, Santos said that having more women in powerful positions makes a difference. And she urged the judiciary committee to look closely at President Trump's judicial nominees¹⁹.

JAIME SANTOS: If 85 percent of the new nominees are white men, it's not going to really create a lot of positive change.

TOTENBERG: Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF 65DAYSOFSTATIC'S "UNMAKE THE WILD LIGHT")

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 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

3 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。

4 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。

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 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

7 confidentiality   

n.秘而不宣，保密

参考例句：

• They signed a confidentiality agreement. 他们签署了一份保守机密的协议。
• Cryptography is the foundation of supporting authentication, integrality and confidentiality. 而密码学是支持认证、完整性和机密性机制的基础。

8 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

9 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

10 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

11 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 audit   

v.审计；查帐；核对；旁听

参考例句：

• Each year they audit our accounts and certify them as being true and fair.他们每年对我们进行账务审核，以确保其真实无误。
• As usual,the yearly audit will take place in December.跟往常一样，年度审计将在十二月份进行。

13 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

14 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

15 audits   

n.审计，查账( audit的名词复数 )v.审计，查账( audit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Requires that use of all bond funds is subject to independent audits. 需要使用的所有债券基金是受独立审计。 来自互联网
• Support the locations during customer-visits, audits and quality-improvement programs. 支持客户参观，稽核和提高品质等项目。 来自互联网

16 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

17 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

18 workforces   

全体员工( workforce的名词复数 )； （国家或行业等）劳动力； 劳动大军； 劳动人口

参考例句：

• The Web has allowed companies to become more distributed and workforces to become more flexible. 网站已允许各公司更加分散，工作队伍也变得更加灵活。
• They are large centres of business in their own with skilled workforces and business-friendly environments. 从自身条件来说，它们都是大型商业中心，拥有大批技能型劳动力和友好的商业运作环境。

19 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