民主党在参议院获胜，意味着特朗普总统将首次失去提名法官和最高法院大法官的“绿灯通道”。此前，保守派大法官克拉伦斯·托马斯和塞缪尔·阿利托面临退休压力，但两人均无迹象表明即将卸任。参议院民主党领袖查克·舒默（纽约州）已发出信号，因在以往确认听证会中吃过亏，该党在新一届国会中可能成为最高法院空缺出现时的“拦路虎”。“底线是，我们不会允许一名右翼分子进入法院，”舒默在接受美联社采访时表示。
Democrats' Senate victory means President Trump for the first time will lose a glide path to nominate judges and Supreme Court justices. Pressure had grown on conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito to retire, but they show no sign of imminently stepping down. And Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) is already signaling the party, burned by past confirmation fights, could be a roadblock if a Supreme Court vacancy ever arises in the new Congress. “The bottom line is we’re not going to allow a right-winger on the court,” Schumer told The Associated Press in an interview.
这是权力对比的重大转变，此前特朗普重塑联邦法院系统已成为其首个任期最持久的遗产之一。他提名了数十名下级法院法官和三名最高法院大法官——尼尔·戈萨奇、布雷特·卡瓦诺和艾米·科尼·巴雷特——巩固了最高法院6比3的保守派多数优势。这一遗产也延伸至下级法院。根据联邦司法中心数据，特朗普首个任期此时已有83名司法提名人获参议院确认。
It’s a major shift in dynamics after Trump’s remaking of the federal courts became one of his most lasting first-term legacies. He nominated dozens of lower court judges and three justices to the Supreme Court — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — to cement its 6-3 conservative majority. That legacy carried over to the lower courts, too. By this point in his first term, the Senate had confirmed 83 of Trump’s judicial nominees, according to Federal Judicial Center data.
随着民主党将在几周内接管参议院多数席位及对总统提名人的“建议和同意”权，这一上升势头愈发岌岌可危。本任期确认节奏本已放缓，据数据显示目前仅确认56人。
With Democrats set to take over the Senate majority and the chamber's advice and consent power on the president’s nominees in a matter of weeks, a continued climb is increasingly in jeopardy. And the confirmation pace was already slower this term, with 56 confirmed so far, according to the data.
这导致部分共和党人呼吁在新一届国会1月开议前，加快填补剩余下级法院空缺。“每一个联邦司法空缺都必须在跛脚鸭会议期间填补，”佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯（共和党）周五在社交媒体上写道。“参议院应通宵达旦工作，无论耗时多久。民主党一旦接管，绝不会确认任何一名特朗普提名的法官。”据联邦司法行政办公室统计，目前有28个地区法院空缺待填补，其中11个已有提名人待定。
It’s left some Republicans calling for a swift push on the remaining lower court openings before the new Congress begins in January. “Every single federal judicial vacancy needs to be filled in the lame duck session,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) wrote on social media Friday. “The Senate should pull all-nighters for as long as it takes. Democrats wont confirm a single Trump judge once they take over.”Twenty-eight district court vacancies are waiting to be filled, with nominees pending for 11 of them, according to the federal judiciary’s administrative office.
佛罗里达州检察长詹姆斯·尤特迈尔（共和党）呼吁参议院批准美国地区法院提名人罗伯特·朗，称他是“最优秀的法学家之一”，并对其提名悬而未决数月表示遗憾。总统的亲密法律盟友迈克·戴维斯加大压力，要求阿肯色州的两位共和党参议员——汤姆·科顿和约翰·布兹曼——批准李·鲁多夫斯基担任上诉法院法官。鲁多夫斯基目前在阿肯色州担任审判法官，戴维斯指责这两位参议员“想要别人”。
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) called on the Senate to confirm U.S. district court nominee Robert Long, saying he’s one of the “finest jurists” and lamenting that his nomination has been pending for months. Mike Davis, a close legal ally of the president, ramped up pressure on Arkansas’s Republican senators — Tom Cotton and John Boozman — to confirm Lee Rudofsky to an appeals court seat. Rudofsky serves in a trial judgeship in Arkansas, and Davis accused the senators of having “wanted someone else.”
他写道：“他们需要改变主意——而且要快——否则共和党将失去这个关键的上诉法院席位。”科顿和布兹曼的发言人未回复置评请求。随着跛脚鸭会期开始，总统似乎准备继续宣布新提名人。据本周提交参议院的一份问卷显示，首批由路透社报道，预计将在本周选举中失去德克萨斯州最高法院法官席位的詹姆斯·沙利文，将被提名为联邦法官。
“They need to change their minds--and fast--or Republicans will lose this key appellate court seat,” Davis wrote on social platform X. Spokespeople for Cotton and Boozman did not return a request for comment. The president appears set to continue announcing new names as the lame-duck session begins. James Sullivan, who is projected to lose his seat on the Texas Supreme Court in this week’s elections, is set to be nominated to a federal judgeship, according to a questionnaire submitted to the Senate this week first reported by Reuters. The midterms have also shifted the political dynamics for Supreme Court vacancies.
中期选举也改变了最高法院空缺席位的政治动态。在特朗普第一任期内，民主党指责共和党为戈萨奇和巴雷特“窃取”了最高法院席位。他们因性侵指控（卡瓦诺否认）而投票反对卡瓦诺。但由于共和党取消了最高法院提名人的阻挠议事规则，民主党从未拥有足够票数阻止提名。如今，随着该党预计将赢得至少54个参议院席位，包括得克萨斯、堪萨斯和南卡罗来纳等红州席位，民主党人表现出欣喜。
In Trump’s first term, Democrats accused Republicans of stealing Supreme Court seats for Gorsuch and Barrett. They voted against Kavanaugh over sexual assault accusations that he denies. But Democrats never had the votes to block the nominations after Republicans eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. Now, Democrats are expressing glee with the party projected to win at least 54 Senate seats, including in red states like Texas, Kansas and South Carolina. Depending on how the races in Alaska and Mississippi shake out, the party could ultimately win as many as 56 seats heading into the new Congress.
视阿拉斯加和密西西比州的竞选结果如何，该党最终可能在新一届国会召开时赢得多达56个席位。一些外部压力曾敦促78岁的托马斯和76岁的阿利托——法院最年长的两位保守派大法官——在大选前退休，以确保特朗普能在参议院仍由共和党控制时提名继任者。
Some outside pressure had grown on Thomas, 78, and Alito, 76, the court’s two oldest conservative justices, to step down ahead of the election to ensure Trump could send a replacement while the Senate remained under Republicans’ control. Many of those voices pointed to the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who remained on the court despite liberal pressure until her 2020 death, enabling Trump to replace her just days before the presidential election.
许多声音指向已故自由派大法官露丝·贝德·金斯伯格，她在自由派施压下仍留任，直至2020年去世，使特朗普得以在大选前几天接替她的席位。随着对阿利托和托马斯施压加大，右翼人士也谴责这种说法。在最高法院保守派转向中发挥核心作用的司法活动家伦纳德·利奥公开称退休猜测“庸俗”。甚至特朗普也将此话题搁置一旁。
As pressure grew on Alito and Thomas, others on the right condemned the talk. Leonard Leo, the judicial activist who played a central role in the Supreme Court’s conservative shift, publicly called the retirement speculation “crass.”Even Trump put the talk to the side. “I hope they stay, ’cause I think they’re fantastic, OK?”
“我希望他们留任，因为我认为他们很棒，好吗？”特朗普去年表示。最终，阿利托在上月播出的哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS News）采访中表示，他“考虑过”退休但决定不这么做。“我想这是我这个年纪的人每个任期都得考虑的事。但我认为我仍能做出有价值的贡献，这也是我最初成为大法官和法官的原因，”他说。据《纽约时报》和彭博社报道，民主党获胜后，阿利托再次告诉他人，他不打算立即退休。
Trump said last year. Ultimately, Alito told CBS News in an interview that aired last month that he “thought about” stepping down but decided against it. “It’s something I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term. But I thought that I could still make a valuable contribution, which is why I became a justice and a judge in the first place,” he said. Following Democrats’ win, Alito has again told people he does not plan to immediately step down, according to reports from The New York Times and Bloomberg.
阿利托未回应《国会山报》关于其计划的置评请求。与此同时，托马斯最近成为美国历史上任职时间第二长的大法官。许多法院观察人士预计他将刷新纪录——这一壮举将在2028年5月达成。尽管他们以78岁和76岁分别是法院年龄最大的成员，但托马斯和阿利托仍比近期退休的大法官年轻。大法官斯蒂芬·布雷耶任职至近84岁。
Alito did not return The Hill’s request for comment about his plans. Thomas, meanwhile, recently became the second-longest-serving justice in American history. Many court watchers expect he’ll set the record — a feat he’ll reach in May 2028. Although they are the court’s oldest members at 78 and 76, respectively, Thomas and Alito are still younger than recent justices who’ve retired. Justice Stephen Breyer served until he was nearly 84.
大法官安东尼·肯尼迪在最后一天刚满82岁。在他之前，大法官约翰·保罗·史蒂文斯任职至90岁。最近一位退休年龄比这两人小的大法官是大卫·苏特，他于2009年、69岁时退休，回新罕布什尔州过更安静的生活。
Justice Anthony Kennedy had just turned 82 on his last day. Before him, Justice John Paul Stevens served until age 90. The most recent justice to retire younger than the duo’s ages was Justice David Souter, who stepped down in 2009 at the age of 69 to return to a quieter life in New Hampshire.