参议院共和党人私下里已经为选举后可能爆发的最高法院大法官提名之争做好了准备，尽管这场争斗或许根本不会发生。两位资历最老的大法官——78岁的克拉伦斯·托马斯和76岁的塞缪尔·阿利托——目前并未表现出任何计划在近几个月内退休的迹象，因此也不会迫使共和党人立即采取行动填补空缺。但如果民主党重新夺回参议院控制权，这两位大法官在“跛鸭”时期可能会面临巨大的辞职压力，因为这将基本导致总统唐纳德·特朗普青睐的提名候选人无法获得确认。
Senate Republicans are privately ready for a post-election Supreme Court nomination fight that may never come. There aren’t too many signs from the two oldest justices — 78-year-old Clarence Thomas and 76-year-old Samuel Alito — that either plans to retire in the coming months and force Republicans to spring into action to fill a vacancy. But the two men would face a mountain of pressure to step down in the lame-duck period if Democrats retake the Senate, which could essentially shut down confirmations of President Donald Trump’s favored nominees.
一旦有人宣布退休，国会山将立即陷入一场混乱的冲刺，而共和党人届时只有五个预定会期周的时间，来为特朗普的提名候选人凑齐50张支持票。在最近接受采访时，具备行动能力的共和党人表示，他们肯定会努力迅速确认任何特朗普提名的候选人。“如果出现这样的空缺，我们会迅速推进，”参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩说。
Such a retirement announcement would kick off a chaotic sprint on Capitol Hill, giving Republicans just five scheduled session weeks to cobble together 50 votes for a Trump nominee. Republicans in a position to act said in recent interviews they would certainly try to rapidly confirm any Trump pick. “We would proceed quickly with such a vacancy,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
参议院司法委员会主席查克·格拉斯利则表示，“当然”会这么做。参议员汤姆·蒂利斯是特朗普的长期批评者，他一人就能在司法委员会阻止任何提名候选人通过，但他表示会“绝对”支持选举后的确认程序。“你必须利用自己的多数地位来推动这次投票，”蒂利斯说。包括图恩在内的多位参议员甚至对是否会出现空缺持怀疑态度。
Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley said “of course” they would. Sen. Thom Tillis, a frequent Trump critic who could single-handedly bottle up a nominee in Judiciary, said he would “absolutely” support a post-election confirmation. “You’ve got to use your majority position to take that vote,” Tillis said. Several senators, including Thune, are skeptical a vacancy even happens.
阿利托在周二发表的对彭博新闻的采访中表示，他至少会“留任”到本届法院会期于明年初夏结束。托马斯多年来从未公开谈论自己的退休问题，也没有表现出任何即将辞职的迹象。“我不知道你为什么认为会出现空缺，”一位参议员说。
Alito told Bloomberg News in an interview published Tuesday he would “stick around” at least until the court’s current term ends early next summer. Thomas hasn’t publicly addressed his retirement in years and has otherwise given no signs of imminent plans to quit. “I don’t know why you assume there will be one,” said Sen. Susan Collins, another potentially pivotal vote who left the door open to filling any vacancy, pointing to her longstanding position that “as long as it’s not close to a presidential election that we should proceed.”
苏珊·科林斯，另一位可能至关重要的投票者，她曾表示愿意填补任何空缺职位，指出她长期以来的立场是“只要不是靠近总统大选，我们就应该继续进行”。然而，一些来自两党的议员，他们从之前对布雷特·卡瓦诺、艾米·康妮·巴雷特和凯坦吉·布朗·杰克逊的确认战中留下创伤，并不愿意考虑在“喘息期”（lame-duck）进行急速确认的想法。
Still, some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle with battle scars from prior confirmation fights over Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson aren’t ready to entertain the thought of a lame-duck confirmation sprint.
“哦，天啊，”阿拉斯加参议员丽萨·默尔科斯基说。“你们这让我毛骨悚然。”我们还在关注：— 库恩斯在以色列政策上的转变：如果民主党赢得参议院，克里斯·库恩斯参议员很可能会主chair外交关系委员会。在他自己描述为“相当显著的思想转变”之下，他并没有排除对以色列总理实施制裁的可能性。来自特拉华州的这位参议员的观点演变，与三年前哈马斯10月7日致命袭击引发以色列的军事回应以来，其他温和派民主党人的态度演变相符。以色列的批评人称，这场军事回应相当于对加沙巴勒斯坦人的种族灭绝行为。
“Oh, gosh,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski. “You’re giving me the chills.”What else we’re watching: — INSIDE COONS’ ISRAEL TURNABOUT: Sen. Chris Coons is likely to chair Foreign Relations if Democrats win the Senate, and — in what he describes as a “fairly sharp break” in his thinking — he’s not ruling out sanctions on Israel’s prime minister. The Delaware senator’s evolution matches that of other moderate Democrats in the three years since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack triggered a military response that Israel’s critics have said amounted to genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. — TRUMP COLLEGE TAX RULES WORRY DEMS: Democratic lawmakers are worried proposed Trump administration rules targeting diversity initiatives on college campuses could threaten universities’ finances over commonplace activities.
— 特朗普政府的大学生税收规则引发民主党担忧：民主党议员们担心，特朗普政府拟定的针对大学校园多样性倡议的规定，可能会因为一些日常活动而威胁到大学的财务状况。“如果一所大学举办黑人历史月活动呢？”担任财税委员会成员的谢尔顿·怀特豪斯参议员在最近一次采访中问道。“这会导致他们失去税免的地位吗？”政务院于9月3日发布的拟议中的IRS条例预计将于次年6月生效。支持者表示，这些规定应被用来防止学校在招生、雇佣和提升晋升等决策中考虑种族因素。
“What if a university has Black History Month?”Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who sits on the tax-writing Finance Committee, said in a recent interview. “Is that going to cause them to lose their tax-exempt status?”The IRS regulations proposed Sept. 3 are slated to go into effect next June. Supporters say the rules should be used to prevent schools from considering race in decisions over who they admit, hire and promote, for example.