美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump's Criticism Of Judges Out Of Line With Past Presidents

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Americans are used to the hurly-burly of political and legal debate. But historically, presidents have been careful not to criticize individual judges or their motives¹. Of course, President Trump² has broken with a lot of institutional traditions over the last year. And this week, he tweeted and railed against judges who have ordered a temporary halt to his ban on people entering or returning to the U.S. from seven mostly Muslim countries. The president's words left many lawyers and historians on the right and the left aghast, or at least scratching their heads. NPR's legal affairs correspondent, Nina Totenberg, reports.

NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE³: To recap briefly⁴, President Trump has belittled⁵ all four judges who've ruled against him so far in the travel ban case. He's referred to the first judge to rule, a George W. Bush appointee, as a so-called judge. When the case was heard by an appeals court panel, he told a group of police chiefs that even a, quote, "bad high school student" could understand the ban was authorized⁶ by law.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Courts seem to be so political. And it would be so great for our justice system if they would be able to read a statement and do what's right.

TOTENBERG: The next night, when the appeals court judges, including another Republican appointee, ruled unanimously against him, Trump responded this way.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRUMP: It's a political decision, and we're going to see them in court.

TOTENBERG: Presidents, for the most part, avoid public feuds⁷ with courts for a very practical reason.

JOSH BLACKMAN: Trump's statements are extremely self-defeating.

TOTENBERG: Josh Blackman is a constitutional law professor at South Texas School of Law.

BLACKMAN: The more he says that the courts are biased⁸ and will rule against him because they're stupid, it subconsciously⁹ increases the chance that they rule against him.

TOTENBERG: But there's a more serious reason, too, he observes. Under our system of three branches of government, the courts ultimately are the checks on the legislative¹⁰ and executive branches when they exceed or even abuse the limits of their power. Understanding that, presidents going back to the founders¹¹ have largely refrained from personal attacks on judges. Thomas Jefferson, for instance, avoided publicly berating¹² Chief Justice John Marshall about decisions limiting the power of the president and the legislature. James Simon is the author of four books about the court and the presidency¹³.

JAMES SIMON: Jefferson spoke¹⁴ privately¹⁵ about what he called Marshall's twistifications of the law, but he didn't do it publicly.

TOTENBERG: Jeff Shesol, author of a book about Franklin Roosevelt's infamous¹⁶ court packing plan, makes a similar observation.

JEFF SHESOL: Privately, Roosevelt was very bitter about his treatment at the hands of the Supreme¹⁷ Court. But even in the height of the court fight, he never allowed it to get personal in the way that we have heard recently from President Trump.

TOTENBERG: Modern presidents have followed a similar path. Here, for instance, is President George W. Bush after the Supreme Court ruled that prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had the right to challenge their detentions¹⁸.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GEORGE W. BUSH: We'll abide¹⁹ by the court's decision. That doesn't mean I have to agree with it.

TOTENBERG: President Obama was widely criticized in 2010 for similar comments about a campaign financing decision, mainly because he chose to do it at a State of the Union speech. Still, the tradition is that while presidents are free to criticize court decisions, they should avoid personal attacks on judges. Why? Because judges have no actual power of enforcement. They don't have troops to carry out orders. They have no power of the purse. Yet our system of laws depends on lowly citizens and presidents abiding²⁰ by court rulings. Throughout our history, the Supreme Court has entered national crises, often preventing presidents from doing what they want to do. Indeed, sometimes the court's verdicts are not vindicated²¹ by history. And yet presidents have complied with those rulings.

That gets to the ultimate worry about Trump. Less than a month into his presidency, many leading lawyers and scholars have begun to wonder what would happen if the president ultimately loses this case or another big one. Would he be so sure of his cause that he would refuse to comply? That would undoubtedly²² provoke a constitutional crisis, and refusal to comply with a Supreme Court decision would almost certainly be grounds for a serious attempt at impeachment²³. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

1 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 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。

4 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

5 belittled   

使显得微小，轻视，贬低( belittle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She felt her husband constantly belittled her achievements. 她觉得她的丈夫时常贬低她的成就。
• A poor but honest man is not to be belittled. 穷而诚实的人是不该让人小看的。

6 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

7 feuds   

n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Quarrels and feuds between tribes became incessant. 部落间的争吵、反目成仇的事件接连不断。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史
• There were feuds in the palace, no one can deny. 宫里也有斗争，这是无可否认的。 来自辞典例句

8 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

9 subconsciously   

ad.下意识地，潜意识地

参考例句：

• In choosing a partner we are subconsciously assessing their evolutionary fitness to be a mother of children or father provider and protector. 在选择伴侣的时候，我们会在潜意识里衡量对方将来是否会是称职的母亲或者父亲，是否会是合格的一家之主。
• Lao Yang thought as he subconsciously tightened his grasp on the rifle. 他下意识地攥紧枪把想。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

10 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。

11 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

12 berating   

v.严厉责备，痛斥( berate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He deserved the berating that the coach gave him. 他活该受到教练的严厉训斥。 来自互联网
• The boss is berating those who were late for work. 老板正在呵斥那些上班迟到的员工。 来自互联网

13 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

15 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

16 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

17 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。

18 detentions   

拘留( detention的名词复数 )； 扣押； 监禁； 放学后留校

参考例句：

• Teachers may assign detention tasks as they wish and some detentions have been actually dangerous. 老师可能随心所欲指派关禁闭的形式，有些禁闭事实上很危险。
• Intimidation, beatings and administrative detentions are often enough to prevent them from trying again. 恐吓，拷打和行政拘留足以阻止请愿者二次进京的脚步。

19 abide   

vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受

参考例句：

• You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
• If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部，你就得遵守它的规章。

20 abiding   

adj.永久的，持久的，不变的

参考例句：

• He had an abiding love of the English countryside.他永远热爱英国的乡村。
• He has a genuine and abiding love of the craft.他对这门手艺有着真挚持久的热爱。

21 vindicated   

v.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的过去式和过去分词 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护

参考例句：

• I have every confidence that this decision will be fully vindicated. 我完全相信这一决定的正确性将得到充分证明。
• Subsequent events vindicated the policy. 后来的事实证明那政策是对的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

23 impeachment   

n.弹劾；控告；怀疑

参考例句：

• Impeachment is considered a drastic measure in the United States.在美国，弹劾被视为一种非常激烈的措施。
• The verdict resulting from his impeachment destroyed his political career.他遭弹劾后得到的判决毁了他的政治生涯。