布希新政府大法官的任命考量

Analysis of Issues Relating to the Possible Selections of Supreme Court Justices in the Second Bush Administration

美國最高法院已有十年未有新的大法官加入，而在目前的九位大法官中，有四位年齡超過七十歲，其中有三位健康情形欠佳，因此極有可能在未來幾年中出現空缺。布希總統在其第一任期內，並未有機會任命最高法院大法官，但卻有可能在第二任期內，透過二到三位大法官的任命，改變未來的美國司法走向。布希總統是否會挾帶連任成功的選民授權或託付及共和黨掌控參眾兩院的優勢，任命在道德議題方面和他意識形態契合的保守人士出任大法官，並有可能對目前一些極具爭議的公民自由議題之司法判決造成衝擊，為本文探討的主題。全文除了分析最高法院在美國政治及政策制定中所扮演的角色、大法官任命的相關議題及現任大法官的司法理念及目前較具爭議的司法議題外，也介紹可能被提名的大法官人選，和參議院行使同意權時可能遭遇的挑戰，並對美國未來的司法走向作出預測。

It has been more than a decade since the last justice of the U.S. Supreme Court was selected. Among the nine members of the current court, four are over 70 and three have health problems. It is very likely that there will be several seats vacated in the next few years. President Bush did not have the opportunity to nominate any Supreme Court justices during his first term. He might be able to choose two to three justices in his second term and considerably alter the future direction of the court.Will President Bush take advantage of the mandate from his re-election and the dominance of the Republican Party in both houses of Congress to nominate those conservative candidates that are congruent with his ideology on moral issues to the court? Will his nomination impact the ruling of some very controversial civil liberties issues? These are the main topics this paper intends to explore. The paper includes discussions on the role of the Supreme Court in American politics and policy making, the related issue of nominating justices, the judicial philosophy of current justices and related controversial issues. It also introduces prospective candidates for the court and possible challenges in the Senate confirmation process. Finally, it also assesses the future direction of the U.S. Supreme Court.