来源：《美联社新闻》
原文刊登日期：2021年12月31日
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts says the federal judiciary needs to do more to ensure judges don’t participate in cases where they have financial conflicts of interest. Roberts made the comments as part of his annual report on the federal judiciary released Friday evening.
最高法院首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨表示，联邦司法系统需要做更多工作，以确保法官不参与有经济利益冲突的案件。罗伯茨在星期五晚上公布的联邦司法年度报告中说了这番话。
Roberts pointed to a series of stories recently in The Wall Street Journal that found that “between 2010 and 2018, 131 federal judges participated in a total of 685 matters involving companies in which they or their families owned shares of stock.” Federal judges and Supreme Court justices are required by law to recuse themselves from cases where they have a personal financial interest.
罗伯茨指出，《华尔街日报》最近的一系列报道发现，“2010年至2018年期间，131名联邦法官共参与了685起涉及他们或其家人持有公司股票的案件。”法律要求联邦法官和最高法院大法官在涉及个人经济利益的案件中回避。
“Let me be crystal clear: the Judiciary takes this matter seriously. We expect judges to adhere to the highest standards, and those judges violated an ethics rule,” Roberts wrote in the nine-page report.
“我说得直白些：司法系统非常重视这件事。我们希望法官遵守最高标准，而这些法官违反了道德准则，”罗伯茨在长达9页的报告中写道。
Roberts is one of just three justices on the nine-member Supreme Court to hold individual stocks. Those holdings sometimes result in the justices recusing themselves from a case or selling stock in order to participate. The other justices who own individual stocks are Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito. In the past those holdings have occasionally resulted in issues.
罗伯茨是最高法院九名成员中仅有的三位持有个股的大法官之一。这些持股有时会导致大法官回避案件，或为了参与案件而出售股票。另两位持有个股的大法官是斯蒂芬·布雷耶和塞缪尔·阿利托。过去，这些持股偶尔会引发问题。
In 2015, Breyer participated in a high-profile energy case involving a subsidiary of Wisconsin-based Johnson Controls Inc. A routine check Breyer’s office does failed to flag that his wife owned stock in Johnson Controls. After the case was argued an inquiry from the news media brought the issue to Breyer’s attention and his wife sold 750 shares worth about $33,000.
2015年，布雷耶参与了一个备受瞩目的能源案件，涉及总部位于威斯康星州的江森自控公司的一家子公司。对布雷耶办公室的例行检查没有标出他妻子持有江森自控公司的股票。案件经过辩论后，新闻媒体的调查引起了布雷耶的注意，他的妻子卖掉了750股股票，价值约3.3万美元。
Alito took part in a case about curse words on television involving ABC Inc. and other networks. At the time the case was argued in 2008, Alito owned about $2,000 of stock in ABC’s parent, Walt Disney Co. The case came out 5-4 with Alito voting with the majority and against ABC’s interests. He later said his participation was an oversight.
阿利托参加了一个涉及美国广播公司和其他电视网的电视节目中出现脏话的案件。在2008年该案件进行辩论时，阿利托持有ABC母公司迪士尼公司价值约2,000美元的股票。案件的投票结果是5比4，阿利托投了多数票，判决结果不利于ABC。阿利托后来说，他参与此案是个疏忽。
Roberts did not write about recusals on his own court for financial or other reasons. He did note that in the instances the The Wall Street Journal identified, the paper did not find that any of the conflicts affected the judges’ actions in cases. And Roberts underscored that conflicts were identified in “less than three hundredths of one percent of the 2.5 million civil cases filed in the district courts in the nine years included in the study,” a 99.97% compliance rate.
罗伯茨没有写他自己因为经济或其他原因而回避诉讼。他指出，在《华尔街日报》发现的案例中，没有发现任何冲突影响了法官在审理案件过程中的行为。罗伯茨强调，在这项研究涵盖的9年时间里，“在联邦地方法院提起的250万起民事案件中，不到万分之三的案件”发现了利益冲突，合规率达99.97%。
But Roberts said, “We are duty-bound to strive for 100% compliance because public trust is essential to our function.”
但罗伯茨说：“我们有义务争取100%的合规性，因为公众信任对我们的职能至关重要。”
Roberts said ethics training programs need to be more rigorous and “the information systems that help courts catch and prevent conflicts are due for a refresh,” among other things. He said officials are working to address the issue.
罗伯茨说，道德培训项目需要更加严格，“帮助法院发现和预防利益冲突的信息系统需要更新”，此外还有其他一些措施。他说，有关官员正在努力解决这个问题。