Appendix

I. Translate in writing form

1. Supreme Court Limits Power of Voting Rights Act

Posted Mar 9, 09

(AP) – The Supreme Court ruled today that a part of the Voting Rights Act aimed at helping minorities elect their preferred candidates only applies in electoral districts where minorities make up more than half the population, the AP reports. The decision could make it harder for some minority candidates to win election and for southern Democrats, in particular, to draw friendly electoral boundaries after the 2010 Census.

The 5-4 decision, led by conservatives, came in the case of a North Carolina plan that sought to preserve the influence of African-American voters by ensuring that new districts can't be drawn in a way that reduces their political clout—even though they make up only 39% of the district. The high court ruled in favor of North Carolina law, which dictates that voting districts can't split up counties. (Source: Associated Press)

2. Clarence Thomas Strays From Righty Line

(Newser) – Clarence Thomas might be the Supreme Court’s rightmost justice, but he’s “never been shy about breaking with conventional wisdom,” writes David G. Savage in the Los Angeles Times. In the latest such instance, he upheld injured patients’ right to sue drug companies, arguing that “agency musings”—in this case from the Bush administration—shouldn’t override state laws to protect consumers.

Several years ago, he disagreed with a ruling that allowed federal raids on California homes growing marijuana for their own use, legal in the state but not federally. In the drug case, right-leaning justices Roberts, Alito, and Scalia sided with a drug firm after it was sued for not fairly warning the public of the risks of an anti-nausea drug; Thomas disagreed. Source: Los Angeles Times

3. Ginsburg: I'm Not Going Anywhere

Posted Mar 6, 09

(Newser) – Contrary to Beltway speculation, Ruth Bader Ginsburg doesn't plan to leave the Supreme Court any time soon. The 75-year-old justice has survived cancer before (colorectal, a decade ago), and doesn't see a reason why the recent diagnosis of pancreatic cancer should cut short her judicial career, she tells USA Today. She plans to be on the court for years to come.

Ginsburg attended President Obama's big speech Feb. 24, soon after her return from surgery, to show the country "I was alive and well, contrary to that senator (Jim Bunning) who said I'd be dead within nine months." Cards have been pouring in, including one that said, "I don't agree with any of your opinions, but I hope you get well soon." (Source: USA Today)

4. Supreme Court Hears Case on Role of Money in Justice

Posted Mar 2, 09

(Newser) – This week, the Supreme Court will hear a case so twisty it inspired a John Grisham novel, the Washington Post reports. At stake: the standards for judicial impartiality. The owner of a small coal company sued a huge one, alleging it illegally drove him out of business. He won, but the larger outfit won on appeal—after its CEO spent $3 million to help elect a new West Virginia Supreme Court justice.

That new justice, Brent Benjamin, cast the deciding vote in overturning the verdict, and plaintiff Hugh Caperton argues that Benjamin couldn’t possibly be impartial, and ought to have recused himself. But his opponents argue that Don Blankenship, CEO of AT Massey Coal, had every right to donate to Benjamin’s campaign, and that “probability of bias” is a weak standard. (Source: Washington Post )