英伦广角 2009-08-09 首位西班牙裔女法官

"The yeas are 68 and the nays¹ are 31."

The US Senate handed President Barack Obama an historic victory Thursday as it overwhelmingly approved his nomination² of Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic justice on the US Supreme³ Court.

Senate majority leader Harry⁴ Reid: "This is truly historic for our entire nation, but especially for the young Latinos in this country who will see in Judge Sotomayor concrete evidence of the heights to which they can legitimately⁵ aspire⁶."

Democrats⁷ hailed Sotomayor as a fair-minded jurist with 17 years of experience as a federal judge.

Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy: "She is a judge of  unimpeachable⁸ character and integrity."

But most Republicans claimed Sotomayor lacked impartiality⁹ and voted against her nomination.

Orrin Hatch is Utah's senior senator. "I am very very concerned about this nomination. I feel very badly that I have to vote negatively. It's not what I wanted to do when this process started. But I believe that I'm doing the honorable and right thing even though I feel badly about it."

Ultimately, the Senate voted 68 to 31 to confirm Sotomayor with 9 Republicans breaking ranks. Less than a half hour after the Senate vote, President Obama praised the Supreme Court's newest edition.

"Like so many other aspects of this nation, I'm filled with pride in this achievement and great confidence that Judge Sotomayor will make an outstanding Supreme Court justice."

Sotomayor will be the third woman justice to sit on the Supreme Court. A swearing-in ceremony will happen at the US Supreme Court building on Saturday.

Jon Decker, Reuters.

 

1 nays   

n.反对票，投反对票者( nay的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The tally was two ayes and three nays. 投票结果是两票赞成，三票反对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The tally was three yeas and two nays, so the yeas have it. 投票结果是三票赞成两票反对，投赞成票者胜利。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

3 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。

4 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

5 legitimately   

ad.合法地；正当地，合理地

参考例句：

• The radio is legitimately owned by the company. 该电台为这家公司所合法拥有。
• She looked for nothing save what might come legitimately and without the appearance of special favour. 她要的并不是男人们的额外恩赐，而是合法正当地得到的工作。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

6 aspire   

vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于

参考例句：

• Living together with you is what I aspire toward in my life.和你一起生活是我一生最大的愿望。
• I aspire to be an innovator not a follower.我迫切希望能变成个开创者而不是跟随者。

7 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》

8 unimpeachable   

adj.无可指责的；adv.无可怀疑地

参考例句：

• He said all five were men of unimpeachable character.他说这五个都是品格完美无缺的人。
• It is the revenge that nature takes on persons of unimpeachable character.这是自然对人品无瑕的人的报复。

9 impartiality   

n. 公平, 无私, 不偏

参考例句：

• He shows impartiality and detachment. 他表现得不偏不倚，超然事外。
• Impartiality is essential to a judge. 公平是当法官所必需的。