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Today is the first Monday in October, and that means the opening day of the new Supreme Court term.
今天是10月的第一个星期一，也就是最高法院首席法官新任期的第一天。
NPR's legal affairs correspondent, Nina Totenberg was at the court this morning when the gavel went down. Nina:
国家公共电台负责法律事务的记者妮娜·托滕博格在今早判决发出之时也在现场，下面请听妮娜的报道：
"Well, as you know, by now, Terry, this was a rather special beginning with a new Chief Justice,
“特里你也知道，目前来看，新上任的首席法官是威廉·伦奎斯特；
William Rehnquist at the helm, and a new Justice, Antonin Scalia, in the junior Justice's chair."
此外还有一位新上任的法官员安东宁·斯卡利亚。”
"So what was it like?"
“现在情况怎样呢？”
"Well, I gotta tell you. To someone who had never been at the court before, it may have looked quite normal.
“这么说吧，对于从未进过法庭的人来说，没什么特别的。
But to me, it was really quite strange. Very weird, in fact.
但对我来说，感觉十分陌生。实际上，可以说是一种奇怪的感觉。
For fifteen years, we watched this Court with Chief Justice Burger in the center of the bench.
因为过去15年来，首席法官一直都是伯格。
And now the whole Court has played a kind of musical chairs, with justice Rehnquist,
而现在，法院里就像玩起了抢椅游戏，
who used to sit at the far right, moving to the center to run the Court. Chief Justice Burger is gone.
因为伦奎斯特以前一直是坐在最右边的，而现在却坐在了最中央。而我们熟悉的伯格离开了。
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who I used to look across the room at and used to look rather placid to me across the room,
而现在的法官桑德拉·戴·奥康纳，以前我扫视整个法院，也不会特别留意她，
is now sitting just over my shoulder above me.
但她现在的座位比我的肩膀要高。
Chief Justice Rehnquist seemed a tad nervous as he opened the term this morning.
今天早上，首席法官伦奎斯特开庭时似乎有些紧张。
As far as the new Justice, Antonin Scalia, he waited only about ten minutes
而新上任的法官安东宁·斯卡利亚在第一个案件开庭仅10分钟后，
during the first case argued this morning before he joined in peppering the lawyers with questions.
就开始向辩护律师发问。
Actually he started to ask a question even earlier, but was cut off by Justice O'Connor,
实际上，他开始发文的时间可能还要更早些，但被奥康纳打断了，
and sort of hung back while a couple of other Justices asked questions.
而且似乎在其他法官问问题时有些犹豫是否要开口。
And then, Justice Seebans, who sits next to Justice Scalia, looked at Scalia as if to say Okay Kid, your turn now.
然后，坐在他旁边的法官西班斯会看着他，就好像在对他说，“没关系的，孩子，你可以问问题了。”
"Well, I can report to you, in general, that the Justices looked well rested and rather pleased at the look of the new Court.
“可以这样说，总体而言，法官们都安然自若，似乎对换了一班人马的法院没有什么不适。”
This morning's session was spirited with all of the Justices asking questions
今天早上的庭审因为法官们的发问焕发了生机，
and a couple of them smiling rather broadly at the sight of Justice Scalia tearing into the attorneys arguing their cases."
而且其中几位法官在看到斯卡利亚条分缕析地向律师发问时，都爽朗得笑了。
"Okay. What about the upcoming term? What cases can we look forward to?"
“好的，那您对下一届任期有什么看法呢？有什么样的案件是我们可以期待的？”
"Well, you know, Alexis de Tocqueville once wrote that, in the United States,
“我想起亚历西斯·德·托克维尔曾经写过一句话：在美国，
almost every pressing social question eventually reaches the Supreme Court.
几乎所有来自社会的发问最终都会在法院中得以体现。”
And while last term was an unusual blockbuster of a year, this term is no slouch either."
虽然上一届的法院聚焦了诸多社会热门话题，但这一届也绝对是干劲儿十足的。”
"Later this month, the Court will hear what is probably the last broad based challenge to the death penalty.
本月晚些时候，最高法院将就死刑问题召开庭审。
The Court must decide if capital punishment should be invalidated
最高法院必须决定是否要废除死刑，
if statistics show that it's imposed disproportionately more often on blacks than on whites,
鉴于死刑的实施比例不公，黑人遭受死刑的比例比白人高，
or more often on the killers of whites than on the killers of blacks.
而白人杀手遭受死刑的比例比黑人杀手高。
The decision in this case, will have an enormous impact on the more than 1,700 men and women currently on death row."
这次案件的决定将会对1700多名尚未被执行死刑的人造成重大影响。
"Last year, the Court issued major decisions in the affirmative action area. What about this year?"
“去年，最高法院在平权行动方面做出了多项重大决定。那今年您觉得会怎样发展呢？”
"Well, last year, the Court ruled than affirmative action is generally acceptable in hiring, but not in lay-offs.
“去年，最高法院规定平权行动在招聘时可以考虑，但在解雇时不会作为考虑因素。”
This year, the Court will focus its attention on affirmative action in promotions
今年，最高法院将主要关注促进平权行动的深入，
and when that kind of affirmative action, if ever, is permissible.
已经平权行动何时能获批。
The Court will also hear a major sex discrimination case involving pregnancy.
最高法院还会就一起涉及雇员怀孕的重大性别歧视案例进行庭审。
At issue is a California law that requires all employers to provide women up to four months disability leave for pregnancy.
公众热议的是一项加州法律，该法律要求所有雇员为女性提供4个月的产假。
A California bank is challenging the law, claiming that it discriminates against men
加州某银行不认可这项法律，并表示这项法律是在歧视
who do not get that kind of disability leave when they are ill.
那些生病时无法享有同样假期的男性。
The bank claims that the California law violates a federal law which bans any sort of discrimination based on pregnancy.
该银行表示，这项加州法律违背了联邦法律，而联邦法律禁止以怀孕为由而进行任何歧视。
Then, there's another case that involves the federal law banning discrimination against the handicapped in employment.
然后还有一起案子与联邦法有关，该联邦法禁止在工作中歧视残疾人。
The question in this case is whether people who have a communicable disease,
这起案子的问题在于：带有可传播疾病
like AIDS or tuberculosis, can be denied jobs because of their disease.
（比如艾滋病、肺结核）的人是否可以因此而被拒。
In this case, a school system fired a teacher who had tuberculosis."
在这起案件中，某学校开除了一位患有肺结核的老师。
"What about the area of separation of Church and State, cases involving religion?"
“那关于教会与国家分割开来的领域有没有案件呢？就是与宗教有关的案件。”
"There are a whole slew of these cases again this year, but two stand out as particularly interesting.
“今年又发生了很多有宗教有关的案件，但其中两个比较突出的案件是很有趣的。”
One case pits the evangelical Christian community against the nation's educators.
其中一个案件的对立双方是基督教社群和美国教育家。
Louisiana passed a law that requires all schools that teach the theory of evolution to teach creationism alongside it as an alternative theory:
路易斯安那州通过了一项法律，要求所有教授进化论的学校教授创造论的内容，作为代替。
creationism being the theory that God created man whole without any evolution.
所谓创造论，就是上帝创造了人类，并不存在进化的过程。
When this law was passed in Louisiana, it was challenged in court by the Quasi-independent state school board,
这项法律在路易斯安那州通过的时候，受到了类似于独立公立学校董事会的质疑，
which argued that creationism has no scientific basis, only a religious basis.
后者认为，创造论没有科学依据，只有宗教依据。
A federal court struck down the law ruling that it, in effect,
某联邦法院反对这项法律，
amounted to an endorsement of religion, and Louisiana's governor appealed to the Supreme Court."
因为它相当于是在支持宗教这一方，路易斯安那州的州长向最高法院起诉。
In a second religion case, the Court will decide if religious and political groups
在第二个有关宗教得案子中，最高法院将决定宗教团体和政治团体
have the right to distribute literature inside government run airport terminals. Sound familiar?
是否有权利在政府精一行的机场航站楼里分发宣传册。这一幕似乎有点眼熟？
When Los Angeles tried to ban the distribution of such literature, a minister from Jews for Jesus challenged the ban in court.
曾几何时，洛杉矶想要禁止这种分发宣传册的行为，但一位信仰基督教的犹太部长在法庭上反对禁止这种行为。
The lower courts ruled that airports are public forums much like parks and sidewalks,
下级法院判决：机场是公共场所，跟公园和人行道一样，
and that the government could not ban the distribution of political or religious literature there.
并表示政府不能禁止在公共场所分发政治宣传册或宗教宣传册。
Los Angeles appealed to the Supreme Court, and today the High Court agreed to review the case.
洛杉矶向最高法院提起诉讼，今天，最高法院同意审理这个案子。
There'll be lots of other fascinating cases this year on questions
今年还会有很多其他有意思的案子，题材丰富，
as diverse as gambling on Indian preservations to presidential versus congressional powers.
比如向印度保护物下注赌博，以及总统权力和国会权力的制衡等等。
Today, as I said, was just the beginning.
正如我说过的，今天只是一个开始。
"Thank you, NPR's legal affairs correspondent, Nina Totenberg."
“感谢大家的收听，我是国家公共电台法律事务的记者妮娜·托滕博格。”
