大法官Elena Kagan在天主教大学法学院发表讲话：批评最高法院近期选举相关裁决损害民主
美国联邦最高法院大法官 Elena Kagan 10月20日在华盛顿的天主教大学（Catholic University）法学院发表讲话，批评最高法院近期的选举相关裁决，认为法官们未能充分考虑其裁决对美国民主运作的影响。Washington Examiner 10月21日报道了此次讲话；此时距11月3日中期选举不足两周，选举结果将决定国会参众两院的控制权。
Kagan 在讲话中点名两起她在上个开庭期持异议的裁决：一是今年6月裁决的 Louisiana v. Callais 案，涉及路易斯安那州国会选区地图与1965年投票权法的适用范围，即州政府在何种情况下必须划设能让少数族裔选民有实际机会选出其属意候选人的选区；二是 National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission 案，涉及联邦对政党与候选人协调支出的限制。Kagan 表示，最高法院对这些裁决给政治系统运作带来的有害影响视而不见，并称法院创造出了一个运转不如应有水平的民主制度；她认为，允许各州划设实际上剥夺许多选民选举其属意候选人能力的选区，对民主非常具有破坏性。
Kagan 还表示，法院处理选举法的方式可能加深这个本已过度极化的国家的政治分歧；她称选举法是最高法院所做的最重要的事情，投票权是根基性的。此次对话由天主教大学法学教授 J. Joel Alicea 主持，他曾任大法官 Samuel Alito 的助理。
Justice Elena Kagan, Speaking at Catholic University Law School, Says Supreme Court's Recent Election Rulings Have Hurt Democracy
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan criticized the court's recent election-related rulings in remarks at the Catholic University law school in Washington, D.C., on October 20, arguing that the justices have failed to account for how their decisions affect the functioning of American democracy. The Washington Examiner reported the remarks on October 21, less than two weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, when voters will decide control of the House and Senate.
Kagan pointed to two decisions from the court's most recent term in which she had dissented: Louisiana v. Callais, decided in June, a challenge to Louisiana's congressional map raising the scope of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and when states can be required to draw districts giving minority voters a meaningful opportunity to elect their preferred candidates; and National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, which concerned federal restrictions on coordination between political parties and candidates. Kagan said the court has kind of blinded itself to the very deleterious effects of their rulings on how the political system works, and has created a democracy that does not work as well as it should. Allowing states to draw districts that effectively eliminate many voters' ability to elect their preferred candidates is, she said, very destructive of our democracy.
Kagan also said the court's approach to election law risks deepening divisions in an already polarized country, calling election law just about the most important thing that the court does and voting rights foundational. She spoke with Catholic University law professor J. Joel Alicea, a former law clerk to Justice Samuel Alito, who has generally sided with the court's conservative majority in the cases Kagan criticized.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：美国最高法院历史学会（Elena Kagan 官方肖像）
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