美国学子眼中的美国宪法

美国学子眼中的美国宪法——Lilian Rogers

《美利坚合众国宪法》是美国最重要的历史性文件，它奠定了美国政治制度与法律制度的基础。1787年5月，美国十三州的代表齐聚费城召开制宪会议，并于9月17日通过《美利坚合众国宪法》，此后不久，《美利坚合众国宪法》即被当时美国十三州的特别会议所批准。历经数年多达27次修正，《美利坚合众国宪法》增加了首十条宪法修正案，亦即所谓《权利法案》。

1775年至1783年是美国独立战争时期。英国政府针的掠夺性税收以及英国政府刻意为之的”放任政策”使北美移民的自由民主意识日益觉醒。英王希望将北美殖民地作为英国永续的廉价原料供应地以及税收来源，这就意味着英属北美殖民地独立政治权力的丧失——北美移民不可能拥有自己的议会以及相应的代表权。独立战争结束后，各州的代表参加的制宪会议草拟了《邦联条例》。该条例经各州批准后于1781年3月生效，是美国也是世界上第一部成文宪法。但是，《邦联条例》最大的问题在于无法有效凝聚各州力量，尤其是在英国当局治下的中央政府只能谨慎而有限地行使权力，对于各州税权也无法进行统一管理。

如何寻求美国国家权力和各州权力之间的平衡，这是美国建国之父们所重视的一个问题。《联邦条例》旨在建立一个强有力、同时权力受到制衡的中央政府，在这一点上来看，《联邦条例》具有一定程度的妥协性。美国宪法规定实行联邦制，立法权、行政权、司法权三权分立——立法权属于美国国会，行政权隶属于美国总统，司法权属于美国联邦最高法院的——由此可以看出，美国宪法体现着分权制衡的组织架构原则。立法、行政、司法三权平等，且互相制衡。每种权力都有限制另外两种权力滥用的职能。美国国会通过法律并由行政部门执行，在此过程中，司法系统对其执行情况进行审查监督。美国宪法规定，合众国国会由参议院和众议院组成。合众国参议院由每州州议会选出两名参议员组成。此外，美国宪法还规定，美国总统必须由出生于合众国的公民或在本宪法通过时已为合众国公民担任。

美国宪法对现今美国政策制定有着无与伦比的影响，因为它是国家的最高法律，对公共政策的制定拥有指导性意义。最高法院依据宪法拟定法律，并以此影响公共政策。一个著名的例子是“布朗诉教育部案”。美国联邦最高法院于1954年作出裁决，这一判决指出，这一案件所涉及的白人学校和黑人学校在硬件设施方面存在事实上的不平等，而这一情况已违反了联邦宪法第14条修正案保障的“同等保护权”。“布朗案”对当时的政治运动有着非常重要的影响。它不仅开启了接下来数年的废止种族隔离运动，也为争取黑人权利的美国的民权运动提供助力。

美国宪法最重要的部分是由第一至第十条宪法修正案组成的权利法案。权利法案对美国法律和政府行为有着十分重要的解释作用，同时它也是美国自由民主思想和民族文化的重要象征。其中第一条修正案或许是最关键、为人所熟知并且是基于美国的民主观念的一条修正案。美国宪法第一修正案保障人民宗教信仰自由、言论自由、新闻出版自由、人民和平集会以及向政府诉冤请愿的权利。美国公民一直以来运用第一修正案表达自身诉求、保障合法权益。第一修正案被应用在许多不同的案件中，多年来，联邦法院对于修正案的语句也进行了必要规范。例如，美国公民拥有言论自由的权利的同时也有可能因在人头攒动的房间谎报“有火灾”而获罪。这是由于上述行为对于他人有着“清楚而切实的危险”。淫秽书刊的发行、公开发表敌视性言论、焚毁国旗、收受竞选献金等行为必须符合宪法第一项修正案(有关公民言论自由)的相关规定。美国人如此重视公开表达意见的权利以致许多在一些人看来是有损道德或是缺乏爱国心的行为也是受第一修正案保护的。

历史上对于宪法一直有着不同的解释。这是因为作为工具性文件的宪法，难免会出现语义上的分歧以及基于此的不同解释。19世纪初，杰弗逊派共和党和汉密尔顿派联邦党就究竟该如何解释联邦宪法这一问题产生了分歧。共和党人认为应当直接理解宪法的字面含义，联邦党人则认为应更灵活地解释宪法条款。从那时开始，美国法律界就如何解释宪法并没有

一致的看法。有些人认为将政治和历史背景纳入考虑范围是非常重要的，另一些人则看重建国之父们的远虑，而其他人仍然认为宪法应以其字面含义为解释标准。

法官对宪法的解释无疑会影响其判决，因此，法律程序的选择也就愈显重要。美国联邦法院法官由总统提名，经参议院简单多数原则表决产生后由总统任命。由于美国宪法未对联邦最高法院大法官任职资格作任何规定，总统克提名任何人担任这一职务。尽管如此，司法提名人通常还是拥有法律背景，他们中的多数在成为最高法院法官之前有着多年上诉法官经验。总统可能提名与其具有相似思想倾向的法官作为候选人，不过，解释宪法的司法工作本身是不带任何政治倾向的。法官并不代表政党利益或接收来自政党的支持。不过，他们往往被归为或自由、或保守、或温和的分类。一经选出，联邦大法官的工作将伴随其终生。

司法提名过程已变得党派色彩十足。参议员根据其党派的意向在听证会时投票，有时甚至不惜发起针对候选人的严厉攻击。通常情况是，政党试图阻止通过总统提名的大法官的任命。因为一旦通过，终身大法官可以在相当长的时间内对国家政策形成有力影响。

Elena Kagan，这位前律师与哈佛法学院的前院长于2010年8月7日宣誓就职，顶替了今年刚刚退休的Steven法官被任命为最高法院大法官。在举行于7月20号的就职听证会上，她的证词于她对参议员司法委员会提出问题的应答都显得波澜不惊，从中没有泄露出更多的有关个人特质与背景的信息。她成为了最近四十年来首位在法律界没有任何从业经历的法官，也是最高法院历史上第四位女性法官。

美国宪法无论在过去、现在、还是未来都对这个国家产生过，并将继续产生重要影响。尽管如此，特别是在政治经济飞速发展的今天，还是有许多人对宪法能否保持其恒久效用保持质疑。不管怎么说，美国宪法无疑是美国最重要的历史文献，它象征着美国自由民主的精神。

英文：

The Constitution is America’s important document. It lays out the form of American government as well as serving as the ultimate law of the land. The Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787 by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and ratified by conventions in each U.S. state. The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; the first ten amendments are known as the “Bill of Rights”.

First a little bit of history: from 1775 to 1783 American fought the Revolutionary War against England. The colonists had been subjected to oppressive taxes. After a period of “salutary neglect”they had become used to relative freedom. They did not appreciate when the King of England began to use the colonies for resources and money, especially as the colonists had no representation in England’s Parliament. After the war the colonists created the “Articles of Confederation”, the first constitution of the United States. The main problem with this first constitution was that it lacked central authority, reacting to the tyranny of the British monarchy, the colonists were very wary of a strong central government, however the Articles of Confederation proved too weak to hold the states together, the central government also lacked the authority to tax the states.

One of the main issues the founding fathers grappled with was the balance of state and federal power. They had seen with the Articles of Confederation that a stronger central government was needed, but wanted to avoid the tyranny they had just experienced. The Constitution reflects a compromise of sorts. The Constitution creates the three branches of American government: a bicameral Congress, an executive branch led by the President, and a judicial branch led by the Supreme Court. This system was intended to create “checks and

balances”. Each branch of the system in some way checks the other in order to create a balanced government so that no one branch can obtain all the power. Congress makes the laws, the executive branch enforces them, and the judicial branch evaluates legality. In setting up this form of government, the Constitution lays out many stipulations. For example, the bicameral Congress is to be made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Every state is allotted two senators while the number of representatives is based on population. The requirements for other offices are also laid out, for example, the president must be a natural-born citizen.

Besides being a founding document, the Constitution still plays an extremely important and active role in American politics today. Because the Constitution is the ultimate law of the land, it has a strong influence on public policy. The Supreme Court makes its decisions based on interpreting the constitution. Once these decisions have been made they can have an enormous impact on public policy. A famous example is “Brown v. Board of Education”case. The B v. B decision was handed down in 1954. The Supreme Court ruled that segregation in schools between white students and black students was unconstitutional because separate education facilities are inherently unequal. The court said that it violated the 14th amendment of the constitution whic h guarantees “equal protection of the laws”. This had a great impact of the political landscape of the time. It not only led to the desegregation of American schools, but helped fuel the Civil Rights Movement resulting in more rights for blacks in America.

Perhaps one of the most important parts of the Constitution is the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights plays a key role in American law and government and remains a vital symbol of the freedom and culture of the nation. The first amendment is perhaps the most well known and most crucial amendment to America’s democracy. The first amendment guarantees freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of press, and the right to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Americans have long used this to guarantee their own freedom to express themselves as well as to protect themselves from the government. The first amendment has been applied in a variety of situations and over the years courts have defined what exactly the meaning of those words is. For example, Americans have the right to free speech but can be punished for yelling “fire”in a crowded room when there is none. That’s because doing so is a “clear and present danger”. Issues such as pornography, hate speech, burning the flag, and campaign contributions all have to do with the first amendment’s guarantee to the freedom of speech. Many things that might be considered immoral or unpatriotic are protected under the first amendment because Americans so value this right to free speech.

Throughout history there have been many different ways of looking at the constitution. Because it is such an instrumental document, many disagreements have arisen out of how to interpret it.

In the early 1800s the Jeffersonian Republicans and the Federalists disagreed on how to view the Constitution. The Republicans believed in interpreting the Constitution strictly, meaning on a word-for-word basis. The Federalists, on the other hand, thought the Constitution could be viewed more broadly, meaning the Constitution could be interpreted based on connotation.

Since then there have been many views among the legal community as to how to interpret the Constitution. Some think it is important to take the political and historical context into consideration, others emphasize the original intentions of the founding fathers, and others still rely on the literal meaning of the words of the Constitution.

How a judge interprets the Constitution can affect the type of decisions he or she will make. Therefore, the judicial selection process is a crucial one. Justices on the Supreme Court are nominated by the president and then the Senate votes on the nomination, a simple majority is needed to confirm the nominee. Because the Constitution does not set any qualifications for service as a justice, the President may nominate anyone to serve. However justice nominees usually have legal backgrounds, most have served as appellate judges prior to becoming a Supreme Court justice. The president will likely nominate someone with broadly similar ideological leanings as he does, however the job of the justice is to interpret the Constitution without political bias. Justices do not represent or receive official endorsements from political parties. However they are often still categorized as liberal, conservative, or moderate. The appointment is a lifetime appointment.

The judicial nomination process has become a very partisan affair. Senators tend to vote along party lines during confirmation hearings often launching harsh attacks on the nominee. Often party opposite the president tries to block the confirmation of the nominee. Because the appointment is a lifetime appointment, the nominee can become a strong force, shaping policy for years to come.

Elena Kagan, former dean of Harvard law school and solicitor general of the US, was confirmed to become a Supreme Court Justice replacing Justice Steven who retired this year. She was sworn in on August 7th, 2010. Her confirmation hearings began on June 28, 2010. Her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee was uneventful, containing no new revelations about her character or background. She is the first justice in nearly four decades without any prior experience as a judge. She is also the fourth female justice in the Court’s history.

The Constitution has had a profound affect on shaping the United States and continues to exert that force today. Still, many people question whether the Constitution can remain a pertinent and effective document in such a different time than when it was first written. For now though, it remains the bulwark of American democracy and the document by which our country runs.