观看最高法院大法官提名的感受

今天下午美国东部时间5点差一刻，我和先生各自都迫不及待地打开自己的手提电脑等待Trump总统在5点钟宣布最高法院大法官提名的实况转播。不出意料，Trump总统提名芝加哥的联邦第七巡回法庭法官艾米.巴勒特 （Amy Coney Barrett) ，补上自由派大法官金斯伯格去世后在高院留下的空位。

对于法官巴勒特成长、教育、家庭背景和法律生涯，先生和我在今天发布会之前早就从多方面资料阅读了解到。其中，我印象特别深刻的有两点：（1）法官巴勒特是一位宪法原始主义（originalism)者，即按宪法原始意义解释判断案例；（2）今年48岁的她和她的丈夫Jesse Barrett都是虔诚的天主教教徒，非常有爱心，他们有7个孩子，其中有两个孩子是从海地领养。今天看了大法官提名的实况转播，更加加深了我在这两方面的印象。

我特别欣赏法官巴勒特在接受提名发言中的这句话“ A judge must apply the law as written. Judges are not policymakers and they must be resolute in setting aside any policy views they might hold.”再次显示她是一位宪法原始主义者。虽然我希望有一位偏右的新大法官，然而，我更希望的是有一位真正忠于宪法的大法官，按宪法原始意义来解释判断案例，而不是一位政治活动家，将自己持有的政治观点带入案例判断。法官们不是法律制定者，而是法律的执行者；期待法官巴勒特如她自己所言，做一位忠于宪法和尊重宪法的真正尽责的大法官。

看了今天的实况转播，我还注意到法官巴勒特和她丈夫 Jesse 从海地领养的两个孩子年龄介于他们夫妇自生的5个孩子年龄之间。出于好奇，我上网搜索他们领养这两个孩子的时间顺序和状况，我被他们夫妇的爱心感动。他们夫妇在生养了两个孩子之后，前往贫穷国家海地领养了一个病弱的14个月黑人女孩，并将她培养成为如今身心健康的少女；在他们夫妇生养了第3个孩子之后，又领养了一个3岁男孩，一位在海地大地震中失去亲人的孤儿。相关信息来源于https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/09/26/what-we-know-about-amy-coney-barretts-family-and-adopted-children-from-haiti/amp/。

原文摘要：

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The couple adopted Vivian at 14 months after they had two children of their own.

She was 14-months-old when she came home, and she couldn’t make any sounds at that point, nor could she pull herself up to a standing position, and she was wearing size 0-3 month clothing because she was just so malnourished. At the time they told us they just weren’t sure whether she would speak. She had been so sick she hadn’t had a lot of practice making sounds and hadn’t been spoken to a lot. She was just weak and she had rickets [disease] so her legs were kind of bowed out.

Barrett said that Vivian’s health was fully restored as she grew.

“Vivian is incredibly athletic now and trust me, speech hasn’t been a problem,” she laughed, noting that her daughter “works out at a crossfit gym and she’s incredibly strong.”

“I was just looking at her the other day at the gym and just thinking what a miracle it is how strong she’s become,” Barrett said.

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She had her son Liam and then worked to adopt another child (注：海地大地震之后）

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The family adopted John Peter from Haiti at the age of three.
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