美国国家公共电台 NPR West Virginia House Votes To Impeach All 4 State Supreme Court Justices

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Today the West Virginia House of Delegates holds the fate of that state's Supreme¹ Court in its hands. Legislators are deciding whether or not to impeach² all four remaining state Supreme Court justices. The allegations - lavish³ spending on court office renovations, the personal use of state vehicles, computers and furniture and the overpayment of other judges. So far today, the delegates have voted to impeach three Supreme Court justices. Dave Mistich of West Virginia Public Broadcasting is here to fill us in on the latest. Hey there, Dave.

DAVE MISTICH, BYLINE⁴: Hi.

CORNISH: So what have you learned? What's going on at the statehouse now?

MISTICH: Well, we started the day with 14 proposed articles of impeachment⁵. They have adopted 10 of those. One article has been withdrawn⁶. They - the House of Delegates just took a break. They'll be back at 8:15. I'll give you a quick rundown, though, on some of the articles that have been adopted. They target Justices Davis, Loughry and Workman, all three about their overpayment of senior-status judges.

A lot of those articles target Justice Allen Loughry for his personal use of state vehicles, computers. He took some furniture home with him. But right now we're waiting on the House and all those lawmakers to come back into the chamber⁷ at 8:15 Eastern to take up an article against the fourth justice, who is Beth Walker. And that one deals with her spending on court office renovations, which the other three have already been impeached⁸ over.

CORNISH: I understand the allegations, but how did we get to this point?

MISTICH: Well, this all started with these reports of lavish spending that came out late last year. There was the discovery of a couch and a historic desk that was selected by one of the capitol - the capitol architect Cass Gilbert. That was found in Justice Loughry's home. This whole deal was discussed as early as January by House Democrats⁹, particularly Mike Pushkin. He's a delegate from Kanawha County. He had called for the investigation¹⁰ of impeachment way back then. The session ended in March. They waited until the governor called a special session in June. They authorized¹¹ the investigation of impeachment.

The House has been spending over a month and a half at this point hearing evidence and testimony¹². And I should point out that just before the investigation kicked off, the fifth state Supreme Court justice, Menis Ketchum - he resigned from the court in late July before any of these articles of impeachment were introduced. So he hasn't been the subject of this investigation, but the other four have.

CORNISH: The impeachment process has taken upwards¹³ of a month, but tomorrow is an important deadline. What's going to happen?

MISTICH: Right, so the governor could appoint the entire Supreme Court. All this comes down to a vacancy¹⁴ deadline at midnight tomorrow. So if there is a vacancy on the bench either by removal from office, which isn't likely going to happen because a trial would have to take place in the state Senate to convict and remove a justice from office - so if it would happen by resignation by midnight tomorrow night, the voters would get to decide, you know?

I should point out that the voters of West Virginia already get to decide the state's Supreme Court justices. So all this comes down to midnight tomorrow whether or not there will be appointments that will allow for someone to be appointed and hold onto the bench until the next election, which is in 2020, or whether or not the governor - or whether or not the voters will decide whether or not these - who the justice will be.

CORNISH: So what's at stake then if the governor decides to make these appointments?

MISTICH: Well, you know, the governor has interests - a lot of business interests in coal. You know, the abortion¹⁵ issue has come up in West Virginia quite often. The Republican legislature took a look at that quite a bit in the last session. So there's a lot of different issues that could be decided¹⁶ by this court.

CORNISH: That's West Virginia Public Broadcasting's Dave Mistich. Dave, thank you.

MISTICH: Thank you.

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 impeach   

v.弹劾；检举

参考例句：

• We must impeach the judge for taking bribes.我们一定要检举法官收受贿赂。
• The committee decided to impeach the President.委员会决定弹劾总统。

3 lavish   

adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍

参考例句：

• He despised people who were lavish with their praises.他看不起那些阿谀奉承的人。
• The sets and costumes are lavish.布景和服装极尽奢华。

4 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。

5 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。

6 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

7 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

8 impeached   

v.控告（某人）犯罪( impeach的过去式和过去分词 )；弹劾；对（某事物）怀疑；提出异议

参考例句：

• Elected officials can be impeached. 经过选举产生的官员可以被弹劾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The judge was impeached for taking a bribe. 这个法官被检举接受贿赂。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

11 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。

12 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

13 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

14 vacancy   

n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺

参考例句：

• Her going on maternity leave will create a temporary vacancy.她休产假时将会有一个临时空缺。
• The vacancy of her expression made me doubt if she was listening.她茫然的神情让我怀疑她是否在听。

15 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

16 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。