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It's Trump's Court
最高法院成了特朗普的法院
The unpredictable Anthony Kennedy’s retirement presages a more conservative era on the Supreme Court
安东尼·肯尼迪的退休来得意外 最高法院即将进入更为保守的时代
By Massimo Calabresi
文/马西莫·卡拉布雷西
For years, some of the most consequential discussions in America were held around a small round table
数年来，美国不少重要讨论都是围绕一张窗前的小圆桌进行的，
in front of a window with a view across first street to the capitol building.
从那扇窗户向外望去，过了一大街便是国会大厦。
It was there, in the pin-drop silence of his supreme court chambers, that justice Anthony Kennedy convened his clerks each year
大法官安东尼·肯尼迪每年都会召集他的助手到那张桌前，在最高法院的一片静寂之中分派，分析
to assign and analyze the cases that would come before America’s highest court in the coming months.
最高法院接下来几个月要审理的案件。
It was also where Kennedy would greet guests for private conversation.
那张圆桌也是肯尼迪私下会客的地方。
Courtly to the point of caricature, he would have his staff lay out white linen napkins and a cut-crystal milk jug, then serve tea.
他会让员工摆好白色亚麻餐巾和晶莹剔透的牛奶壶后再上茶，堪称彬彬有礼到滑稽的地步。
He would also salt his legal analysis with Shakespearean allusions,
他还会在案件分析中融入莎士比亚的典故，
fresh in his mind from after-dinner reading at home with Mary, his wife of 55 years.
现学现用与结婚55年的妻子玛丽饭后阅读时看到的。
Alternately self-effacing and grandiloquent, he talked about the books he was reading
他聊起最近在读的书，以及对法律、国家乃至全世界的担忧，
and what worried him about the law, the country and the world.
时而谦逊，时而豪言壮语。
And it was there at that table, in the early morning after beating the Washington traffic into the capital,
那张圆桌，也是肯尼迪——一大早就已穿越华盛顿繁忙的交通来到了国会——
that Kennedy often wrestled with the thorniest issues America faced.
经常与美国面临的最棘手的问题作斗争的地方。
Should abortion be legal and easily accessible?
堕胎应该合法吗？落实起来会容易吗？
How could affirmative action be deployed to right the historic wrong of racism without becoming racist itself?
如何才能利用平权行动纠正种族主义的历史错误，同时保证行动本身不落入种族主义窠臼？
Should gay people have the same rights as straight people?
同性恋应该和异性恋享有同等权利吗？
If the image of quiet, contemplative debate seems anachronistic in these vituperative times,
如果说，在这个动辄谩骂的时代，安静、沉思式的辩论已经显得不合时宜，
the contrast is even more poignant after the Justice’s latest decision.
最高法院做出最新裁决后，二者的反差较之前有过之而无不及。
On June 27, Kennedy announced that he would step down from the court,
6月27日，肯尼迪宣布他将退出最高法院，
taking with him the unique moderating role he has played in America for three decades.
30年来他所扮演的调节角色也将随他一起远去。
The last swing voter on the court, he sought—often to the frustration of everyone around him—
作为最高法院最后一位游离选民，他总是设法在你争我斗的理念之间，有时甚至是意识形态之间寻求折中的办法，
to find compromise between competing ideals and, at times, ideologies.
为此也总是哪方都吃力不讨好，枉用心机。
What remained of that world is about to come crashing down.
那个世界所余留的也即将面临崩溃。
Some 30 minutes after the 81-year-old Justice met with President Trump in person at the White House,
这位81岁的大法官前往白宫与特朗普总统会面，大约30分钟后，
his resignation became news, and preparations for battle broke out across Washington.
他的辞职便登上了新闻，整个华盛顿也随之吹响了战斗的号角。
Leonard Leo, Trump’s top outside adviser on judicial nominations,
负责向特朗普提供司法提名咨询的首席外部顾问伦纳德·里奥向《时代》周刊透露，
told TIME that the President could announce a nominee in the next two or three.
总统可能会在未来两三周内宣布新的提名人。
The timing would put Trump on track to potentially seat his second Justice by Oct.1—the start of the next high-court term,
鉴于这一时机，特朗普有望在10月1日之前，也即赶在下一届最高法院任期开始之前，
and well before midterm elections could alter the Republican majority in the Senate.
赶在中期选举改变共和党在参议院的多数党地位之前定下他的第二位大法官。
“I think that as long as the President sticks to the model that worked last time,
“我认为，总统只有坚持上次颇为成功的模式，
which is to appoint someone like Neil Gorsuch,” Leo says,
换句话说，就是任命尼尔·戈萨奇这样的人为新任大法官，”里奥说，
“that is the best recipe for ensuring some level of bipartisan support.”
“才是确保在一定程度上得到两党支持的最佳选择。”
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
