2007年VOA标准英语-US Supreme Court Justice Urges Congress to Rais

By Jim Malone
Washington
14 February 2007

A U.S. Supreme¹ Court justice made a rare appearance before a Senate committee Wednesday and appealed to Congress to increase the pay for federal judges. Associate Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy made his case before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has details.

Supreme Court justices rarely appear before Congress, out of respect for the separation of powers requirements laid out in the U.S. Constitution among the executive, legislative² and judicial³ branches of government.

 
Anthony Kennedy testifies on Capitol Hill before Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on judicial security and independence, 14 Feb 2007
Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy told senators that Congress has ignored the issue of judicial pay for far too long, arguing that low salaries hurt morale⁴ and threaten to undermine judicial independence.

"It is very important that you keep in mind the objective of restoring the judiciary to its preeminent⁵ place," he said. "$160,000 [a year] for a [federal] district judge, the present salary, sounds like a lot of money to the average American, and it is. But it is insufficient⁶ for us to attract the finest members of the practicing bar to the bench."

Kennedy noted⁷ that a number of judges have been lured⁸ to universities and law schools in recent years where they can make up to twice as much money as they did on the bench.

Some senators seemed sympathetic to the call for higher salaries. Others expressed concern about the number of attacks on judges in recent years, including a few cases where judges were assassinated⁹, and urged passage of legislation that would provide federal judges with greater security.

 
Patrick Leahy (Nov 2006)
"We cannot tolerate or excuse violence against judges," said Vermont Democrat¹⁰ Patrick Leahy, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. "No one should seek to minimize what a corrosive¹¹ effect that has on our system."

Justice Kennedy said it is important to attract the best candidates for federal judgeships in order to safeguard the principle of judicial independence. Kennedy says nations around the world look to the U.S. judicial system, and the Supreme Court in particular, as examples of what independent judiciaries can do for democracies.

"It is essential, as a principle, to establish the idea that the rule of law depends on an independent judiciary, or else you have the rule of power, not the rule of law," he said.

"Judicial independence is something that is eagerly sought by judiciaries throughout the world and they look to the United States as an example," he added.

 
Arlen Specter (Jan 2007)
At least one senator, Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter, suggested the Supreme Court could further its image in the United States by allowing the oral arguments before the high court to be televised.

The House of Representatives has allowed live television coverage¹² of its floor proceedings¹³ since 1979, while the Senate has done the same since 1986.

Senator Specter suggested it is time the Supreme Court follow suit.

"Isn't there necessarily great value in communicating to the people what the court does," he asked. "If the people could see the inside of that room and see the nine of you there in your black robes and see the way you approach these issues?"

Most of the justices remain opposed to live television coverage of the oral arguments before the court. In fact one of them, Associate Justice David Souter, said some time ago that it would only happen over his dead body.

Justice Kennedy seemed cool to the idea in his response to Senator Specter.

"Please, Senator, do not introduce into the dynamics¹⁴ that I have with my colleagues the temptation, the insidious¹⁵ temptation, to think that one of my colleagues is trying to get a sound bite for the television," he said. "We do not want that. Please do not introduce this into our inter-collegial deliberations. We do not want it."

Much of the work of the Supreme Court is done behind closed doors. Justices hold oral arguments, then discuss the cases among themselves before rendering¹⁶ their opinions in writing, usually with a majority view of the court and one or more minority views on a given case.

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 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。

3 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

4 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

5 preeminent   

adj.卓越的，杰出的

参考例句：

• Washington was recognized as the preeminent spokesman of American Negroes by 1895. 到1895年,华盛顿被公认为美国黑人的卓越代言人。
• He is preeminent because his articles are well written. 他的文章写得很漂亮,卓尔不群。

6 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

9 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

10 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

11 corrosive   

adj.腐蚀性的；有害的；恶毒的

参考例句：

• Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry.核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。
• Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry.核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。

12 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

13 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

14 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

15 insidious   

adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧

参考例句：

• That insidious man bad-mouthed me to almost everyone else.那个阴险的家伙几乎见人便说我的坏话。
• Organized crime has an insidious influence on all who come into contact with it.所有和集团犯罪有关的人都会不知不觉地受坏影响。

16 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。