时间:2019-01-07 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA常速英语(十月)


英语课
By Greg Flakus
Houston
09 October 2007

U.S. Supreme 1 Court will hear arguments Wednesday in the case of a convicted murderer from Mexico who is trying to escape the death penalty by arguing that he was not informed at the time of his arrest in Texas of his right to speak with the Mexican consul 2. As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Houston, the case centers not on the crime or the legal proceedings 3 in Texas, but on the limits of presidential power.


The Medellin vs. Texas case pits President Bush against the courts in his home state of Texas, with the president and the U.S. Justice Department arguing on the side of a man convicted of rape 4 and murder. No one is arguing that the convicted felon 5 is innocent.


In 1993 Jose Medellin signed a confession 6 that provided gruesome details about how he and five fellow gang members raped 7 and murdered two teenage girls in Houston.


After being convicted, Medellin and four others were given the death penalty. But Medellin later appealed based on the failure of police to inform him of his right to contact the Mexican consulate 8 to seek legal assistance after he had informed them that he was a Mexican citizen.


The state rejected this appeal on the grounds that he had not brought it up in the original trial, but in 2004 Mexico won a judgment 9 from the International Court of Justice at the Hague ordering the United States to review such cases. The United States is obligated to inform foreign nationals of their right to speak to their nation's consuls 10 under the 1963 Vienna Convention.


In February, 2005 President Bush ordered courts in Texas and elsewhere to review cases to comply with the International Court ruling. The state of Texas argues that the president exceeded his authority in doing this and that he should have gone to Congress to seek legislation allowing a direct appeal to federal courts in cases involving the Vienna Convention.


University of Texas law professor Ernest Young is among constitutional scholars who filed a friends-of-the-court appeal arguing that the president did exceed his constitutional authority in this case, but he says there are many issues involved here and it is difficult to say how the Supreme Court might rule.


"The justices who want to respect international law the most, who are also the judges who are most anti death penalty, the four liberals on the court, they are also the most suspicious of broad presidential powers," said Ernest Young. "On the other hand the justices who are most in favor of broad presidential power are in favor of the death penalty and skeptical 11 of international law."


Young says the controversy 12 surrounding this case and many others involving the Vienna Convention have made it less likely that local police will fail to inform foreign suspects of their rights, but he says it is a difficult rule to implement 13 since the federal government that signed the international treaty has little control over the state and local authorities who are expected to carry it out.


"You are counting on tens of thousands of state and local people to be the primary enforcers of this obligation to tell foreign nationals about their rights," he said. "It is also made difficult by the fact that foreign nationals are often going to be reluctant to say that they are a foreign national because they might be here illegally."


Although attorneys from both sides will present their arguments in the case on Wednesday, the nine Supreme Court justices are not expected to make a decision until sometime next year.




adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的
  • It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
  • He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
n.领事;执政官
  • A consul's duty is to help his own nationals.领事的职责是帮助自己的同胞。
  • He'll hold the post of consul general for the United States at Shanghai.他将就任美国驻上海总领事(的职务)。
n.进程,过程,议程;诉讼(程序);公报
  • He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
  • to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼
n.抢夺,掠夺,强奸;vt.掠夺,抢夺,强奸
  • The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
  • He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。
n.重罪犯;adj.残忍的
  • He's a convicted felon.他是个已定罪的重犯。
  • Hitler's early "successes" were only the startling depredations of a resolute felon.希特勒的早期“胜利 ”,只不过是一个死心塌地的恶棍出人意料地抢掠得手而已。
n.自白,供认,承认
  • Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
  • The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。
v.以暴力夺取,强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 );强奸
  • A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
  • We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致,不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句
n.领事馆
  • The Spanish consulate is the large white building opposite the bank.西班牙领事馆是银行对面的那栋高大的白色建筑物。
  • The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见
  • The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
  • He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。
领事( consul的名词复数 ); (古罗马共和国时期)执政官 (古罗马共和国及其军队的最高首长,同时共有两位,每年选举一次)
  • American consuls warned that millions more were preparing to leave war-ravaged districts. 美国驻外领事们预告,还有几百万人正在准备离开战争破坏的地区。
  • The legionaries, on their victorious return, refused any longer to obey the consuls. 军团士兵在凯旋归国时,不肯服从执政官的命令。
adj.怀疑的,多疑的
  • Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
  • Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。
n.争论,辩论,争吵
  • That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
  • We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。
n.(pl.)工具,器具;vt.实行,实施,执行
  • Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划,除非你能完成这项计划。
  • The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。
学英语单词
all conditions as per charter
amphicarpaea bracteata edgeworthii japonica
anti-corrosive zinc plate
automatic routine generating and updating system (argus)
bauxite brick
bibliographic date
bit shifting technique
blancas
blubbers
bocage vendeen
box socket wrench
bredden
bronchioli
bum rushes
cafo
casting sample
Chalicotheriidae
circular rip saw
convergent contour
cotton leaf caterpillar
counter-irritation
defeatists
dimethylimidazole
distorted segregation
docksides
enrichens
exceptionalism
execeptional values
face blindness
Ficulle
firm joint
fissure of vertebral arch
fruit-ripening
full blow
fuzzy identity function
genus Olearia
gigant-
gold-finer
Guinea Fracture Zone
Haloragis micrantha
hammertone enamel
hang on in there
harpsichord
Herba Emiliae
huh-uh
Hvilsted
hystersis
image enhanced microscopy
immediate message
improper triphthong
internal balance(mather 1953)
internal postmortem examination
invertive
iraqi kurdistans
ISRRT
just-in-time (jit)
La Turballe
lavaughn
lip tattoo
liquescible
lobsterize
logperches
low-activity liquid waste concentrate
main throttle valve
make one's best endeavors
mayinglong shexiang zhichuang gao
mogensenite (titanmagnetite)
multiple field
native hollies
nautical meteorology
ncvq
nonillustrated
nuclear resonance magnetometer
on site maintenance
One's sun is set.
paternal authority
perivascularly
Potrerillo
pueraria lobata thomsonii
real horsepower
sail over
scum-bucket
sex-related
significance ratio
simple binding
single-exposure printer
STBs
support functions
Surgeres
titainite jacupirangite
uniondale
universal angle plate
unmitring
ventricularfidrillation
vietnam-era
Villa Franca
warestall
water freezes from the surface downwards
water-soldier
well-wishing
yaguarundis
zone of competition