听力课堂TED音频栏目主要包括TED演讲的音频MP3及中英双语文稿，供各位英语爱好者学习使用。本文主要内容为演讲MP3+双语文稿:美国最高法院是怎么任命法官的？，希望你会喜欢！

【演讲者及介绍】Peter Paccone

有一份工作，有很大的权力，工资，威望和近乎完美的工作保障。只有一种方法可以被录用:被任命为美国最高法院法官。但美国最高法院的法官们实际上是如何获得这一荣誉的呢？Peter Paccone概述了在美国最高法官席上获得席位的艰难过程。

【演讲主题】美国最高法院是怎么任命法官的？How do US Supreme Court justices get appointe？

【中英文字幕】翻译者 Haibing Luo 校对者 Nova Upinel Altesse

There's a job out there with a great deal of power, pay, prestige, and near-perfect job security.|有这么一份工作，它位高权重，薪水可观，工作保障几近完美。

And there's only one way to be hired: get appointed to the US Supreme Court.|获得这种工作的方式只有一个：成为美国最高法院的法官。

If you want to become a justice on the Supreme Court, the highest federal court in the United States, three things have to happen.|如果你想成为美国最高法院——美国联邦政府最高法院的法官，必须满足三个条件：

You have to be nominated by the president of the United States, your nomination needs to be approved by the Senate, and finally, the president must formally appoint you to the court.|得到美国总统的提名，参议院通过提名，最后，总统的正式任命。

Because the Constitution doesn't specify any qualifications, in other words, that there's no age, education, profession, or even native-born citizenship requirement, a president can nominate any individual to serve.|因为美国宪法没有对法官的资格有特定的要求，就是说，没有年龄，教育，专业要求，甚至不必出生在美国本土，所以总统可以提名任何人。

So far, six justices have been foreign-born, at least one never graduated from high school, and another was only 32 years old when he joined the bench.|目前为止，有六位法官出生在国外，至少一位没有高中毕业，还有一位成为法官时年仅32岁。

Most presidents nominate individuals who broadly share their ideological view, so a president with a liberal ideology will tend to appoint liberals to the court.|大多数总统会提名与自己持相同政见的人，所以，如果总统是自由派的，他会提名自由派人士为法官。

Of course, a justice's leanings are not always so predictable.|当然，法官上任以后的做派也并不总是可以预测的。

For example, when President Eisenhower, a Republican, nominated Earl Warren for Chief Justice, Eisenhower expected him to make conservative decisions. Instead, Warren's judgements have gone down as some of the most liberal in the Court's history.|例如，艾森豪威尔总统，一个共和党人士，任命了厄尔·沃伦为大法官。艾森豪威尔总统期待他作风保守，然而，沃伦却成为美国最高法院有史以来作风最自由的法官之一。

Eisenhower later remarked on that appointment as "the biggest damned-fool mistake" he ever made.|后来，艾森豪威尔评价那次人事任命为他曾经犯过的“最大最愚蠢的错误”。

Many other factors come up for consideration, as well, including experience, personal loyalties, ethnicity, and gender.|提名最高法院法官时也会考虑其他因素，例如经验，个人的忠诚度，种族以及性别。

The candidates are then thoroughly vetted down to their tax records and payments to domestic help.|然后候选人要经过全面审查，从报税纪录，到给家政人员的薪水都要审查。

Once the president interviews the candidate and makes a formal nomination announcement, the Senate leadership traditionally turns the nomination over to hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee.|总统与候选人面谈之后，会正式宣布提名他为候选人。按照传统，参议院领导会组织参议院司法委员会为候选人举行听证会。Depending on the contentiousness of the choice, that can stretch over many days.|根据参议院对这项提名的争议度，听证会可能会持续很长时间。

Since the Nixon administration, these hearings have averaged 60 days.|自尼克松政府以来，听证会平均需要60天。

The nominee is interviewed about their law record, if applicable, and where they stand on key issues to discern how they might vote.|如果有司法经验的，参议员会根据候选人的司法经验，以及候选人在关键问题上的立场，进行投票。

And especially in more recent history, the committee tries to unearth any dark secrets or past indiscretions.|尤其是在近几十年，委员会会尽可能挖掘候选人的污点或过去不检点的行为。

The Judiciary Committee votes to send the nomination to the full Senate with a positive or negative recommendation, often reflective of political leanings, or no recommendation at all.|司法委员会常基于其政治倾向，向参议院做出支持或反对的推荐，或者根本不做任何推荐。

Most rejections have happened when the Senate majority has been a different political party than the president.|多数做出反对推荐的，是因为多数参议员和现任总统党派不同。

When the Senate does approve, it's by a simple majority vote, with ties broken by the vice president.|如果副总统打破平衡，多数参议员投票赞成，参议院会通过这些提名。

With the Senate's consent, the president issues a written appointment, allowing the nominee to complete the final steps to take the constitutional and judicial oaths.|参议院同意后，总统发表书面任命书，让候选人完成最后一步——宪法和司法宣誓。

In doing so, they solemnly swear to administer justice without respect to persons and do equal right to the poor and the rich and faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon a US Supreme Court justice.|宣誓时，候选人庄严宣誓无私执法，无论贫富，公平对待所有人的权利，忠诚公正得执行美国最高法院一个法官所应尽的职责。

This job is for life, barring resignation, retirement, or removal from the court by impeachment.|这份工作是终身制的，除非自愿辞职，退休或者被法院弹劾。

And of the 112 justices who have held the position, not one has yet been removed from office as a result of an impeachment.|在112个历任法官中，还没出现过被单核出局的。

One of their roles is to protect the fundamental rights of all Americans, even as different parties take power.|法官职责之一是无论执政党是哪个，都要维护所有美国人的基本权利。

With the tremendous impact of this responsibility, it's no wonder that a US Supreme Court justice is expected to be, in the words of Irving R. Kaufman, "a paragon of virtue, an intellectual Titan, and an administrative wizard."|因为该权利影响巨大，难怪欧文·考夫曼说，美国最高法院的法官应该是“道德典范，智慧巨人，管理奇才。”

Of course, not every member of the Court turns out to be an exemplar of justice.|

Each leaves behind a legacy of decisions and opinions to be debated and dissected by the ultimate judges, time and history.|当然，也不是所有法官都会成为模范法官。每个法官都会留下丰富遗产，做出无数决定和意见，供后来的法官，时间和历史来争论剖析。