大法官過世遺下的問題 (2)

大法官過世遺下的問題 (2)

Results in key cases could change with Scalia's 

death-

隨著史大法官的過世，主要案件的判決結果，可能有所改變。

    已故大法官

Q. What other pending cases could be affected?

還有其他懸而未決的案件會受影響?

A.   A challenge to the way governments have drawn electoral districts for 50 years now appears to have little chance of finding a court majority. The court heard arguments in December in a case from Texas on the meaning of the principle of "one person, one vote," which the court has said requires that political districts be roughly equal in population.

  對一項政府50年來已經吸收選舉人票地區的挑戰，現在看起來沒有機會找到法庭多數。十二月來自德州有關「一人一票的原則」之意義的爭論，最高法庭說了，此原則需要，政治地區的人口應該大約相等。

But it has left open the question of whether states must count all residents, including noncitizens and children, or only eligible voters in drawing district lines.

但法庭有一件未作決定，在劃分選區規定時，各州是否必須計算所有住民，包括非公民、小孩或僅限有資格的選民。

Q. What will happen in the upcoming case over the Obama health care overhaul?

有關歐巴馬健保澈底檢查的未來案件會如何？

A.   The Supreme Court will be looking at the health care law for the fourth time since its 2010 enactment. This time, the focus is on the arrangement the Obama administration worked out to spare faith-based hospitals, colleges and charities from paying for contraceptives for women covered under their health plans, while still ensuring that those women can obtain birth control at no extra cost as the law requires.

最高法院將四度審查健康法，自從2010年制訂的法規以來。本次審查重點在歐巴馬政府所制訂的安排，要免除教會醫院、大學和慈善機構付給婦女的避孕藥，這些避孕藥已包含在她們的健保中，同時使那些婦女得到避孕，而依法不必另外付費。

The faith-based groups argue that the accommodation still makes them complicity in providing contraception to which they have religious objections.

這些宗教信仰的團體爭論說，在提供避孕藥時，這個方便措施仍然使他們成為共犯團體，因宗教信仰是反對避孕的。

A tie vote here would sow rather than alleviate confusion because the appellate courts that have looked at the issue have not all come out the same way.

平手的投票不但不會減低困惑，反而增加它，因為審理過本案的上訴法庭，尚未完全有相同的裁決。

That prospect suggests that Justice Anthony Kennedy will join the court's four liberal justices to uphold the arrangement, Supreme Court lawyer Thomas Goldstein said.

最高法院Goldstein律師曾說，那個遠景，使人聯想到Kennedy大法官，將會加入四位自由派大法官來支持這項安排。

Q. Are there cases in which a tie would be a loss for the Obama administration?

打成平手表決的案件對歐巴馬政府是一項損失?

A.   The administration's plan to shield up to 5 million people from deportation was struck down by lower courts and a Supreme Court tie would leave that ruling in place. On abortion, the administration is backing a challenge to Texas' strict new regulations for abortion clinics. A federal appeals court upheld the regulations.

政府計劃保護達五萬之多的人免遭驅逐出境的計劃，被低層法院卦殺，而一場最高法庭的平手裁決或會使該判決維持原判。至於墮胎，政府正支持挑戰德州嚴厲的墮胎診治的新規定。而聯邦上訴法庭卻支持了這些規定。

To be continued 未完

Justin Lai 編譯選自網路

02/27/2016