The New York Times
By THE
EDITORIAL BOARD MARCH 16, 2016
如果你想要在實驗室創造一個理想中的溫和的最高法院提名人，最好的選擇就是提名賈蘭德法官。
If you tried to create the ideal
moderate Supreme Court nominee in a laboratory, it would be hard to do better
than Judge Merrick Garland.
歐巴馬總統提名賈蘭德法官去填補，大法官史塔利亞上個月死亡遺留下的職缺，他嚴肅執行這項憲法任務，選擇一名深受尊敬、才智卓越的聯邦上訴法官，他過去的審判紀錄無可挑剔，他個人深受共和黨和民主黨的欽佩。
In nominating Judge Garland to
fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last month,
President Obama has taken his constitutional duty seriously, choosing a deeply
respected federal appellate judge with an outstanding intellect, an impeccable
legal record and the personal admiration of Republicans and Democrats.
不過，歐巴馬總統星期三早上在玫瑰花園宣布的幾分鐘內，多數黨領袖參議員米奇‧麥康奈爾，再次悍然地宣稱，歐巴馬總統挑選的人選，無意讓提名人獲得國會認可，而是為了選舉，將提名政治化。
And yet, within minutes of Mr.
Obama’s announcement in the Rose Garden on Wednesday morning, Senator
Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, was again outrageously
claiming that Mr. Obama made his pick “not with the intent of seeing the
nominee confirmed, but in order to politicize it for purposes of the election.”
他再次發誓不會在歐巴馬總統離開辦公室前，舉行聽證會。沒有理由相信，參議員米奇‧麥康奈爾和他的政黨將會舉行聽證會。在聽證會前或者在投票舉行前，他們宣稱會完全同意投票給任何總統提名的人選。這對參議員來說，是危險的新角色，他們會將最高法院變成穿著黑袍的政治人物。
He again vowed not to hold hearings
until after Mr. Obama leaves office. But there is no reason to believe that Mr.
McConnell and his party will hold hearings at all. What they have claimed is
blanket authority to veto any nominee before hearings or a vote takes place.
This is a dangerous new role for the Senate, one that could turn the court into
nothing more than a group of black-robed politicians.
在正常的情況下、甚至是常態的黨派，法官賈蘭德會通過聽證會考驗，就算不是幾個星期內，也會在幾個月內獲得參議院的同意。參議員歐林‧海契，猶他州的資深共和黨員，是司法委員會主席，他在2010年說法官賈蘭德將是有共識的提名人，並且說賈蘭德會獲得兩黨同意被任命為大法官是沒有問題的。
Under normal, even routinely partisan,
circumstances, Judge Garland would sail through confirmation hearings and be
confirmed by the Senate in a matter of months, if not weeks. That was obvious
to Senator Orrin Hatch, the senior Republican from Utah who sits on the
Judiciary Committee, who in 2010 said Mr. Garland would be a “consensus
nominee” and said there would be “no question” that he would be
confirmed to the Supreme Court with bipartisan support.
上個星期，參議員海契重複他的讚美，說如果歐巴馬總統要一個真正溫和的提名人，他可以提名法官賈蘭德，但是他預測，「他可能無法那麼做，因為這次的任命是選舉考量的。」
Just last week, Mr. Hatch repeated his
praise, saying that if Mr. Obama wanted a real moderate, he “could
easily” name Mr. Garland, but predicted that “he probably won’t do that because
this appointment is about the election.”
但是我們不再受到理智與正常的境界的操控。有非常大的可能性，川普將是共和黨的總統候選人。現在，共和黨的領袖們發表不誠實的聲明
「讓人民的聲音被聽見。」在這場驚人的褻瀆政治秀之後，擱置最高法院的憲法任務。
But we are no longer operating in the
realm of sense or normality. The Republican Party is staring down the very
strong possibility that Donald Trump will be the party’s presidential
candidate. And now, its leaders, in a stupendous show of political malfeasance,
are putting the Supreme Court’s constitutional duties on hold while they
make dishonest claims about “letting the
people’s voice be heard.”
大法官賈蘭德是63歲的白人，共和黨拒絕大法官賈蘭德是有些諷刺的，(因為他並不是民主黨最理想的人選)，民主黨希望下一位大法官有更多自由主義的法律紀錄，他對民主黨人士來說可能太溫和。這樣的選擇不會為法院帶來更大的多樣性。
There is some irony to the Republican
rejection of Judge Garland, a 63-year-old white man, who might be considered
too moderate for Democrats hoping that the next justice would have a more
liberal legal record. It is a choice that does not bring more diversity to the
court.
他法院的19年，大法官賈蘭德建立紮實的中立投票紀錄，反映出他沒有強烈的政治意識形態。在許多案例上，他與政府站在一起，例如，關塔那摩灣的受刑人的人身保護令申請案， 並且他比自由派同事更常投票對抗刑事被告。 他的投票通常傾向於深思聯邦機構的決策。 在公民權利的案例，他的投票有利於聲稱人權受到侵犯原告。
In his 19 years on the bench, Judge
Garland has established a solidly centrist voting record that
reflects no strong political ideology. He has sided with the government in
cases involving habeas corpus petitions from detainees at Guantánamo Bay, and
has voted against criminal defendants more often than his liberal colleagues
have. He has generally voted in favor of deferring to the considered decisions
of federal agencies. In civil rights cases, he has voted in favor of plaintiffs
who have claimed rights violations.
這些都與共和黨參議員無關，他們已經保證不會有聽證會，沒有投票—只有少數的例外，甚至連與大法官賈蘭德禮貌性地會面都沒有。他們已經說，在參議員當成皮納塔那樣之前，會出現大法官提名人。
注：皮納塔（西班牙語：Piñata），是一種紙糊的容器，其內裝滿玩具與糖果，於節慶或生日宴會上懸掛起來，讓人用棍棒打擊，打破時玩具與糖果會掉落下來。皮納塔的造型多樣化，最常見的樣子是小驢子。
None of this matters to Senate
Republicans, who have pledged that there will be no hearings, no vote —
and with a few exceptions, not even the courtesy of a meeting with Judge
Garland. They have said that a nominee appearing before the Senate
would be treated like a “piñata.”
不妥協的態度，不太可能為共和黨在11月贏得選票。美國人強烈地反對共和黨杯葛，那在國家的歷史是史無前例的。如同歐巴馬總統星期三所說的：「我只是要求參議院的共和黨人，給他一個公平的聽證會，然後，全面投票。」如果他們不這麼做，他說，提名最高法院大法官的程序—總統其中一個最重要的工作—將無法修復。
This intransigence is unlikely to win
votes for the party in November. Americans strongly oppose the
Republican blockade, which is unprecedented in the nation’s history. As Mr.
Obama said Wednesday, “I simply ask Republicans in the Senate to give him a
fair hearing, and then an up-or-down vote.” If they do not, he said, the
process of nominating Supreme Court justices — one of the most important jobs
of any president — will be “beyond repair.”
歐巴馬總統已經選擇一個很強的提名人，在任命為上訴法院法官時，他贏得兩黨的支持。共和黨拒絕接受他，他們將面臨二個腳本的其中一：一是希拉蕊選擇的大法官，他將會比歐巴馬所提的人選更自由主義，或者川普總統提名的大法官—種族主義者、庸俗的煽動者，許多共和黨員已經說他不適合管理這個國家。
Mr. Obama has picked a strong nominee,
who won bipartisan support in his confirmation to the appeals court. If the Republicans
refuse to accept him, they will face one of two scenarios: a nominee selected
by Hillary Clinton, who may well be more liberal, or one chosen by President
Donald Trump — a racist, vulgar demagogue who many Republicans have said is
unfit to run the country.
