这位自由派大法官抨击了保守派多数在《投票权法案》、竞选资金和党派选区划分问题上的裁决。
The liberal justice took aim at the conservative majority’s rulings on the Voting Rights Act, campaign finance and partisan gerrymandering.
距离关键的中期选举还有两周，最高法院大法官埃琳娜·卡根周二表示，高等法院近期在投票和竞选资金方面的裁决损害了国家的民主。
With pivotal midterm elections two weeks away, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said Tuesday the high court’s recent decisions on voting and campaign finance have damaged the nation’s democracy.
这位自由派大法官在华盛顿天主教大学的一次广泛座谈中，严厉批评了保守派多数今年作出的限制《投票权法案》和放宽竞选资金限制的裁决。她还指责了2019年将法院从监督党派选区划分中移除的裁决。卡根在上述每个案件中都曾持异议。
The liberal justice sharply criticized the conservative majority’s rulings this year limiting the Voting Rights Act and loosening campaign finance restrictions during a wide-ranging discussion at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. She also faulted a 2019 decision removing the court from oversight of partisan gerrymandering. Kagan had dissented from the rulings in each case.
她在新最高法院任期开始的最初几周与法学院学生对话，在新任期中大法官们将就突击步枪、气候变化和宗教权利作出影响深远的裁决。法院可能会被要求就11月3日的选举发布相关裁决。
She spoke to law students during the opening weeks of a new Supreme Court term in which the justices will make consequential rulings on assault rifles, climate change and religious rights. The court could be called upon to issue decisions related to the Nov. 3 elections.
卡根谈到法院在投票问题上的裁决时说：“在所有这些领域，法院有点对其裁决对政治体制运作产生的极其有害的影响视而不见。它创造了一个运作不如预期良好的民主。”卡根表示，2019年那项认定联邦法院不应在监管党派选区划分中发挥作用的裁决，引发了两党“竞相逐底”地划分选区，“剥夺大量公民”在投票中享有平等的权利。
“In all these areas, the court has kind of blinded itself to the very deleterious effects of their rulings on how the political system works,” Kagan said of its rulings on voting. “It has created a democracy that does not work as well as it should.”Kagan said the 2019 decision finding that federal courts should not have a role in policing partisan gerrymandering touched off a “race to the bottom” by both political parties to carve up districts and “depriv[e] masses of citizens” of the right to equality in voting.
卡根说：“该裁决正在‘把人们从中间推向两翼，推向极端’。让我认为本已过于两极分化的国家变得更加两极分化。”今夏，法院还限制了政党与候选人在竞选资金支出方面的协调上限。
That decision is “driving people away from the center toward the wings, toward the extremes,” Kagan said. “Making what I think is, unfortunately, a too polarized country even more so.”Over the summer, the court also curbed limits on coordination between political parties and candidates in campaign finance spending.
“美国民众审视这一政治体制，认为如此巨额资金追逐如此众多政治候选人简直是一场噩梦，而他们是对的，”卡根说。
“The people of America look around at this political system and think all this money chasing all these political candidates is a nightmare and they are right,” Kagan said.
卡根表示，上一任期法院作出的里程碑式裁决，大幅削弱了《投票权法案》最后一个主要条款，同样存在严重问题。多数派大法官限制了在划分选区地图时对种族因素的考量。
Kagan said last term’s landmark decision curtailing the last major section of the Voting Rights Act was also deeply problematic. The majority limited the consideration of race in drawing voting maps.
她感叹该裁决引发了南部共和党控制的各州争相重新划分众多黑人民主党议员的国会选区。“法院有点像在说：‘哦，好吧，’”卡根说。
She lamented that the decision touched off a scramble among GOP-controlled states in the south to redraw the congressional districts of many Black Democrats. “The court kind of said, ‘Oh well,’” Kagan said.
卡根还批评保守派多数大法官为唐纳德·特朗普总统及其他总统铺平了道路，使其得以撤换国会设立、本应独立于行政首长之外的机构负责人。“危险在于，这允许总统粗暴践踏政府的所有机构，”卡根说。
Kagan also criticized the conservative majority for clearing the way for President Donald Trump and other presidents to remove the heads of agencies that Congress set up to be independent of the chief executive. “The danger is it allows the president to ride roughshod over all the institutions of government,” Kagan said.
尽管不同意该裁决——这是特朗普所寻求的——卡根重申了她在另一近期公开场合提出的观点：最高法院因被指责所谓“顺从总统意愿”而遭受“冤屈”。
Despite disagreeing with the ruling — which Trump had sought — Kagan reiterated a point she made at another recent appearance: that the Supreme Court was getting a “bum rap” for supposedly doing whatever the president wants.
她强调了法院在多项裁决中对特朗普进行制衡，包括其征收关税、限制出生公民权、向芝加哥部署国民警卫队以及严重限制邮寄投票的努力。
She highlighted rulings by the court checking Trump on his efforts to impose tariffs, restrict birthright citizenship, deploy the National Guard to Chicago and severely restrict mail-in voting.
“这就是为什么总统有时对法院的裁决和我的一些同事说出非常难听的话，”卡根说。
“It’s why the president sometimes really has not very nice things to say about the court’s decisions and some of my colleagues,” Kagan said.
近几个月来，特朗普严厉抨击大法官，特别是指责他提名的三位大法官——艾米·科尼·巴雷特、布雷特·M·卡瓦诺和尼尔·M·戈萨奇——在一些案件中裁决对己不利。
Trump has harshly attacked the justices in recent months, particularly assailing his three nominees — Amy Coney Barrett, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Neil M. Gorsuch — for ruling against him in some cases.
但卡根补充说，法院依然“高度保守”，并愿意为保守派法律运动的许多优先事项背书。
But Kagan added the court was still “deeply conservative” and willing to bless many priorities of the conservative legal movement.
卡根表示，她怀念自己2010年加入时的那个法院，称当时在政治上更为平衡。卡根由贝拉克·奥巴马总统提名。
Kagan said she missed the court that she joined in 2010, saying it was more balanced politically. Kagan was nominated by President Barack Obama.
卡根说：“法院曾拥有一种合法性。当法院拥有那种合法性时，它有助于建立一个稳定的国家。”
“The court had a kind of legitimacy,” Kagan said. “When the court has a legitimacy of that kind it helps to create a stable country.”