觀看最高法院大法官提名的感受

今天下午美國東部時間5點差一刻，我和先生各自都迫不及待地打開自己的手提電腦等待Trump總統在5點鍾宣布最高法院大法官提名的實況轉播。不出意料，Trump總統提名芝加哥的聯邦第七巡回法庭法官艾米.巴勒特 （Amy Coney Barrett) ，補上自由派大法官金斯伯格去世後在高院留下的空位。

對於法官巴勒特成長、教育、家庭背景和法律生涯，先生和我在今天發布會之前早就從多方麵資料閱讀了解到。其中，我印象特別深刻的有兩點：（1）法官巴勒特是一位憲法原始主義（originalism)者，即按憲法原始意義解釋判斷案例；（2）今年48歲的她和她的丈夫Jesse Barrett都是虔誠的天主教教徒，非常有愛心，他們有7個孩子，其中有兩個孩子是從海地領養。今天看了大法官提名的實況轉播，更加加深了我在這兩方麵的印象。

我特別欣賞法官巴勒特在接受提名發言中的這句話“ 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.”再次顯示她是一位憲法原始主義者。雖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於憲法的大法官，按憲法原始意義來解釋判斷案例，而不是一位政治活動家，將自己持有的政治觀點帶入案例判斷。法官們不是法律製定者，而是法律的執行者；期待法官巴勒特如她自己所言，做一位忠於憲法和尊重憲法的真正盡責的大法官。

看了今天的實況轉播，我還注意到法官巴勒特和她丈夫 Jesse 從海地領養的兩個孩子年齡介於他們夫婦自生的5個孩子年齡之間。出於好奇，我上網搜索他們領養這兩個孩子的時間順序和狀況，我被他們夫婦的愛心感動。他們夫婦在生養了兩個孩子之後，前往貧窮國家海地領養了一個病弱的14個月黑人女孩，並將她培養成為如今身心健康的少女；在他們夫婦生養了第3個孩子之後，又領養了一個3歲男孩，一位在海地大地震中失去親人的孤兒。相關信息來源於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：海地大地震之後）

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