重返法官席, 为何口头辩论总超时?

The justices of the Supreme Court have been known in recent decades for their discipline when it comes to talking.

近几十年来，最高法院的大法官们一直以惜字如金而闻名。

But of late, they've been talking and talking and talking, sometimes more than doubling the amount of time allotted for the oral arguments, where they hear out cases from the lawyers involved.

但最近，他们一直在不停地讨论，有时会把分配给口头辩论的时间增加一倍多，他们会在这个辩论中听取相关律师的案件。

We're going to talk about this with NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg, who listens to them talk. Hey there, Nina.

我们将和NPR法律事务记者妮娜·托滕伯格一起讨论这个事情，她正在收倾听他们的讨论。你好，妮娜。

Hey there, Steve.

嘿，你好，史蒂夫。

OK. You've been listening to oral arguments for decades. How did the question-and-answer sessions used to work?

好。你听口头辩论已经有几十年了。以前的问答环节是如何运作的?

Well, in most cases, each side is allotted a half hour, though in some unusual cases where there are multiple major issues, for instance, the court allocates more time.

嗯，在大多数案件中，每一方都会被分配半个小时的时间，不过，比如遇到一些有多个重要问题的特殊案件，法院会分配更多的时间。

And to keep the lawyers to time, a white light goes on on the lectern when they have just 5 minutes left, and a red light goes on when time's up.

为了让律师们守时，当还剩5分钟时，讲台上会亮起一盏白灯，当时间一到，讲台上就会亮起一盏红灯。

During my long lifetime of covering the court and four chief justices, they were very strict about holding lawyers to their allotted time.

在我报道最高法院和四位首席法官的这么长时间里，他们非常严格地要求律师遵守分配的时间。

The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist even cut lawyers off mid-sentence when that red light went on. Take a listen.

已故首席大法官威廉·伦奎斯特甚至在红灯亮起时打断了律师的话。让我们来听听。

That parents are going to fail to act. Thank you, Ms. Beeson. Thank you.

父母将不会采取行动。谢谢你，比森女士。谢谢你！

Mr. Olson, you have 4 minutes remaining. That would not exist under 166... Thank you, Mr. Klock.Thank you.

奥尔森先生，你还剩四分钟。这不存在于166……谢谢你，克洛克先生。谢谢你！

Mr. Boies, we'll hear from you.

博伊斯先生，我们将听取你的辩论。

The Scouting program.

童子军计划。

Thank you, Mr. Wolfson. Mr. Davidson, we'll give you a minute. You don't actually have quite that much. We'll be generous.

谢谢你，沃尔夫森先生。戴维森先生，我们给你一分钟。其实你没有那么多时间。我们很大方，会多给你点时间。

That sounds like one of those broadcast interviews where we've got to cut away for the commercial or whatever.

这听起来像是广播采访，我们得剪掉广告什么的。

But that's the way it was. What's happening now?

但这就是口头辩论运作的方式。现在怎么样了?

This term, we've had, as usual, most cases scheduled for 60 minutes total, a half hour on each side.

这个开庭期间，我们像往常一样，大多数案件的总时长安排了60分钟，双方各半小时。

In some cases, the court allotted five more minutes on each side.

在一些案件中，法院为双方多分配了5分钟的时间。

And in three important cases so far this term, where there are a large number of important issues, they've allocated 90 minutes for argument.

到目前为止，在三个重要的案件中，有很多重要的问题待解决，他们分配了90分钟的辩论时间。

And yet the justices ran over in almost every case.

然而，法官们几乎在每一个案件中都超时了。

So the overtime is longer than the whole arguments used to be.

超出的时间比以前整个辩论时间要长。

Yes, that's right.

是的，没错。

What accounts for the jump?

是什么导致了时间增加?

Other than a lack of discipline, you mean?

你是说，太不惜字如金了?

Oh, yeah.

哦, 是的。

Basically, it dates back to the pandemic lockdown.

基本上，这可以追溯到疫情封锁时期。

Remember that the justices continued to hear arguments but by phone because they thought Zoom wasn't safe from crashers.

还记得吗，法官们继续听取辩论，不过是通过电话进行，因为他们认为Zoom视频 不安全，可能会被不速之客扰乱。

And when you hear arguments by phone, you can't see each other.

当通过电话听取辩论时，看不到彼此。

So to prevent interrupting each other constantly, each justice asked questions for several minutes in order of seniority.

为了避免经常打断对方，每位法官都会按照资历深浅提问几分钟。

And when they returned to the bench in 2021, they could now see each other, of course.

当他们在2021年重返法官席时，他们现在自然可以见到彼此了。

But instead of returning to the old discipline, they started to speak longer.

但他们并没有守着旧纪律--惜字如金，而是开始说得更冗长了。

And the system that now exists at the court is that for however long a lawyer has, let's say, a half hour, he or she faces the basic free-for-all that used to exist pre-pandemic.

而法院现存的制度是，无论律师有多长时间，比方说，半小时，他(她)都面临着疫情前就存在的基本混战。

But instead of the oral argument ending there the way they used to, they do a whole second round with each justice going in order of seniority.

不过，他们没有像过去那样以口头辩论结束，而是进行了整整两轮，每位法官都按照资历深浅进行提问。

And the chief justice, just to be sure even after that, asks if everyone's done.

首席法官，为了确保随后流程，会问大家是否都讲完了。