美国有线新闻 CNN 拜登将宣布最高法院大法官人选（在线收听）

The U.S. Supreme Court is our first topic.

美国最高法院是我们的第一个话题。

President Joe Biden has reportedly met with three potential nominees to the high court and by next Monday, he's planning to announce his choice for the court's next associate justice.

据报道，乔·拜登总统已经会见了三位可能被提名进入高等法院的人，他计划在下周一宣布最高法院下一任大法官的人选。

On our January 28 show which you can find in our YouTube archives, we explored some of the likely front-runners for President Biden's nomination.

在1月28日的节目中，你可以在YouTube档案中找到该节目，我们探讨了拜登总统提名的一些可能的竞选领先者。

He's expected to follow through in a campaign promise he made to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.

预计他将履行竞选承诺，提名首位黑人女性进入最高法院。

If she's confirmed, it would be a historic appointment, though an ABC/Ipsos poll conducted last month found that most Americans wanted the president to consider all possible nominees.

如果她被任命，这将是一次历史性的委任，尽管上个月进行的ABC/Ipsos民意调查发现大多数美国人希望总统考虑所有可能的候选人。

Whoever is nominated will still have to be confirmed and whoever gets confirmed will be replacing 83-year-old Associate Justice Stephen Breyer who's retiring.

无论谁被提名，都必须得到任命，而得到任命的人将接替即将退休的83岁的大法官斯蒂芬·布雷耶。

Justice Breyer began his term on the High Court in after his nomination by then President Bill Clinton.

布雷耶法官在被当时的总统比尔·克林顿提名后开始了他在最高法院的任期。

There's no limit to how long justices can serve.

法官的任期是没有限制的。

The U.S. Constitution says they can hold their office during, quote, good behavior.

美国宪法规定，他们可以在表现良好的情况下任职。

But Democrats have pressured Justice Breyer to retire during this term. Why?

但民主党人已经向布雷耶施压，要求他在任期内退休。 为什么?

The timing of these nominations matters a great deal to America's political parties.

这些提名的时机对美国的政党至关重要。

Republicans generally want to seat conservative justices on the Supreme Court.

共和党人通常希望保守派法官进入最高法院。

Democrats generally want to seat liberal justices.

民主党人通常希望让自由派法官担任大法官。

Six of the current Supreme Court members were appointed by Republican presidents, three were appointed by Democratic presidents.

现任最高法院大法官中有6人由共和党总统任命，3人由民主党总统任命。

Those include Justice Breyer.

其中包括布雷耶法官。

So, President Biden and his fellow Democrats who control the Senate by the slimmest of margins want to try to get Breyer's replacement confirmed this year,

因此，以微弱优势控制参议院的拜登总统和他的民主党同僚们想在今年任命布雷耶的继任者，

because the midterm elections in November could change the political makeup of the Senate.

因为11月的中期选举可能会改变参议院的政治组成。

If Republicans win back control of that chamber, it could make it harder for President Biden to get a liberal justice confirmed.

如果共和党人重新赢得参议院的控制权，拜登总统可能会更难让自由派法官获得任命。

CNN 10 contributor Rachel Janfaza has more on this process.

CNN 10分钟新闻撰稿人瑞秋·詹法扎将带来详细报道。

Now that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has decided to retire, President Joe Biden will nominate his successor.

既然最高法院大法官斯蒂芬·布雷耶已经决定退休，总统乔·拜登将提名他的继任者。

But just because Biden nominates a successor does not mean that his pick will automatically be confirmed to the highest bench in the land.

但是，拜登提名继任者并不意味着他的人选将自动被任命为美国最高法官。

The Constitution does not require that the candidate is a judge or even a lawyer.

宪法并没有要求候选人必须是法官，甚至是律师。

But that's been the case in recent history.

但这是近代历史上的情况。

Once Biden announces his pick, the confirmation process heads over to the Senate, where there will be hearings over the candidate in the Senate Judiciary Committee, ahead of a Senate vote over whether or not to confirm the nominee.

一旦拜登宣布了他的人选，任命程序将转到参议院，参议院司法委员会将在参议院投票决定是否任命提名人之前就候选人举行听证会。

That vote requires a simple majority of 51 senators.

这一表决需要51名参议员的简单多数通过。

If it's a 50-50 split, Vice President Kamala Harris could break the tie.

如果双方投票各占一半，副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯可能会打破僵局。

You might be wondering, how long does this process take?

您可能会想，这个过程需要多长时间?

Well, there's no clear answer to that question.

这个问题没有明确的答案。

It really depends. Usually, it takes months.

要看情况而定。通常需要几个月的时间。

But when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in 2020, former President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans confirmed now Justice Amy Coney Barrett in less than a month.

但当大法官露丝·巴德·金斯伯格于2020年去世时，前总统唐纳德·特朗普和参议院共和党人在不到一个月的时间里任命了现任大法官艾米·科尼·巴雷特。

So time will tell.

时间会证明一切。

But with the 2022 midterm elections on the horizon, Senate Democrats will likely look to follow a quick timeline towards confirmation, while they have the Senate majority.

但随着2022年中期选举的临近，参议院民主党人很可能会寻求遵循快速的时间表来获得批准，尽管他们在参议院拥有多数席位。