我眼中的Barrett大法官、Amy老师

王翠西UID: 3765221

Amy Barrett法官是我在圣母大学法学院的老师，也是我在印第安纳州的邻居，就住在我家隔壁（我家303她家302）。她是太阳在水瓶座、月亮在巨蟹座的女神，和我妈妈的生日就只差了四天。

在2018年我刚从LLM转到JD的那个夏天，是她把我的绶带递给牛顿院长，然后牛顿院长给我以冠冕。她在典礼上对我们的教诲让我至今印象深刻：“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.”

从给斯卡利亚大法官担任Clerk的那一刻起，她就成为了宪法原旨主义的捍卫者。她对法律的解释与说理始终围绕着美国宪法的每一字每一句。她是七个孩子的母亲，包括两个收养的海地孤儿。她的孩子们在她家的花园里玩耍的欢笑声是我每天放学时的快乐。她是虔诚的天主教徒，我们做弥撒的时候她空时会加入我们。她待人和蔼可亲，上学和同学一起走过她家门口偶遇时，她还会和我们亲切地打招呼。她是ND忠实球迷，Game Day的时候也能有她的身影。

这就是我眼中的被川普提名继任美国最高法院大法官的Barrett法官，左手圣经、右手宪法、可亲可敬的Amy老师。

有师如此，与有荣焉。

下面这段youtube链接是Prof. Amy Barrett我们圣母大学法学院2018届毕业典礼上的发言，我已经将其整理成了文字稿。即使现在我不在法学院、在商学院读书了，她的教诲让我始终铭刻在心，并且用力践行和诠释我们法学院的校训：Educate a different kind of lawyer。

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Wi7LgxDGw

I’m going to talk to you today about words.

Using them as the superpower that I hope that we have given you during your time here because words are our essential tools of the trade.

Accountants work with numbers; doctors work with the body and lawyers work with words. Words brings contracts to life. They transfer property. They give force to statues and judicial opinions. You know now better than most people that words have power. And today I want to encourage you to use that power wisely.

What you say reflects who you are and what you believe, and not everyone will love who you are and what you believe, but have the courage of your convictions. Don’t be afraid to use to your words just because they may earn you contempt. That’s tough to do; who doesn’t prefer to be loved to being hated.

Choose your words wisely. But if they reflect what’s good and what’s true, don’t be afraid to say them. No one can accomplish real good in the world if they calibrate their lives to what other people think of them. Martin Luther King Jr. was not out to win a popularity contest. Don’t speak recklessly but speak fearlessly.

Now the fact that your words reflect who you are does not mean that your words should be all about you. Quite to the contrary, use your words in the service of others. As you enter the profession, keep in mind what the language of the law has to teach us about that. Diseases are named after the doctors who identified them, and so we have Down’s syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease. The same is true for inventions, and so we have Braille and pasteurization.  It’s also true for statues. Some of you have studied the Sarbanes-Oxley act. But cases are different. Cases are not named after the lawyers who litigated them or the judges who decided them, but after the people whom they had the greatest effect. The connection of the law to the lives of real people is hardwired into the language that the lawyers speak. Your constitutional law case book does not contain a case called John Marshalls triumph or the judicial review case. It contains Marbury vs. Madison. You leave law school remembering Helen Palsgraf’s injury at the train station and the Brown family’s fight against the Topeka Board of Education.

You also carry with you the names that are the reminders of the law’s tragedies. Dred Scott stands with us still. Never forget that the law is developed for people, for the flesh-and-blood people whom you will now serve. And all of you, whether full-time or pro bono, should use the legal language that you now know to be a voice for the voiceless. Remember the words that the Book of Proverbs speaks to the lawyers, “open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.”

Of course, your facility with language, the superpower with which you graduate today, won’t affect only your life at the office. Your friends and family may have already seen that being a lawyer has become part of who you are. You’ve got a superpower now and with great power comes great responsibility. Choose your words wisely. Lawyers get a bad rap for wanting to argue things into the ground and I’m sorry to say that there is some truth to the stereotype, when you’ve been trained to argue, it can be hard to let that go. Sometimes, you should let it go even if you are right. I don’t care how right you are about the merits of your favorite basketball team: what is the point of arguing with Professor Garnet about Duke basketball. So sometimes let it go even if you’re right, but when you are wrong, you must let it go. That’s true professionally when you have to correct the record and it’s true personally when you have to roll back something you’ve said to a friend. Hold on to the wisdom of Winston Churchill who said, “In the course of my life, I often had to eat my words and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.” Class of 2018, be prepared to eat up. Be careful with your superpower. Watch when you should speak and when you should stay silent. It’s just not true that “The sticks and stones can hurt my bones but words will never hurt me.” Harsh words stick around. Biting your tongue means being willing to hurt yourself before you hurt someone else.

Class of 2018, use your words to build up, rather than to tear down. Be kind, seek forgiveness, and give it, too. Lawyers might have a particularly hard time forgiving. We are trained to spot injustice and that can make it particularly hard to be on the receiving end of it. Mother Theresa gives good advice. She says, “people are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; forgive them anyway.”

Class of 2018, use your superpower for the good. Your education lies behind you; your career lies in front of you. And today, be filled with gratitude for everything that you have been given and everything that you will receive in the future.

The most important word for today is congratulations. So, let’s let the celebration begin.

王翠西UID: 3765221

【我当时的翻译稿】
今日，我愿就语言话题，与诸君把盏，闲话一二。
愿诸君谨记校内所得、吾辈所教，挥毫吞日月，泼墨破穹苍。盖言语者，社稷之重器也。
算师游刃数字，医者再造血肉。而律师，毕生盟于言语。诸君已然深谙言语之力量；今日，唯愿诸君，言语有方。
文如其人，言映其思。 信为君所器，义为君所守，以天下人众，不能行其道也。唯愿诸君，秉忠贞之志，守谦退之节。莫畏流俗人之言，三缄其口。
唯愿诸君，谨言慎行。倘所言其实、所信其真，则莫惧发声。不人云亦云，公平方如江河滚滚、大义始如巨浪滔滔。马丁路德金义师飒沓，无问荣华。唯愿诸君，抑轻浮之言，扬无畏之语。
文如其人，异于文服务其人。唯愿诸君，假言语之势，挽狂澜于既倒、扶大厦于将倾。居庙堂之高仍思其语，处江湖之远亦忖其言。病者，名之以医师；技者，名之以技师；令者，或名之以讼师。然，不闻案者名之以律师，盖所有案者名之以民。律师为民众所刻每一笔，所划每一道，乃联系法律与民众之唯一纽带。观诸君宪法精义所载之案，非“马歇尔之大胜”，亦非“违宪审查之案”。宪法精义所载，乃“马布里诉麦迪逊案”（注1）。唯愿诸君谨记，帕氏之覆于长岛（注2），布朗之隔于学孰（注3）。
明镜所以鉴形者也，有妍媸则见之于外；往事所以鉴心者也，有善恶则省之于内。君不闻斯科特之哭号，上彻碧落，下贯黄泉。老来多健忘，唯不忘法意——民为贵，社稷次之，权贵为轻。唯愿诸君，言常人之所不能言，语常人之所不能语，一生伏首拜圣经——明镜堂堂，天义昭昭，唯我弟子，同心同劳。
盖言语之锐，百炼钢可化绕指柔。居庙堂者如是，处江湖者亦如是。覆黄天者，律师之言也；乱厚土者，讼师之语也。 律者之所以为社会之不容，盖忧律师之颠倒黑白，法官之指鹿为马。唯愿诸君，得饶人处且饶人，有过改之，无过加勉。铁血贤相丘吉尔，纵覆西洋风雨尽风流，亦恒失言。然丘氏之异于常人者，大抵铮铮然善自过也。
诸君试想，言语之锐，或可伤人。莫拘于“君子一言，驷马难追”之窠臼。 愿诸君牢记，何时将言，何时当缄。“石砾碎我筋骨而言语不奈我何”，不然。华言风语，乱相诳误。
唯愿诸君，以言语之铿为生民立命。愿诸君保持赤子之心以求宽恕，得饶人处且饶人，切莫小肚鸡肠。无涯清浊假，不尽涤纷葩。修女特蕾莎之语甚然——纵众人皆醉、举世皆浊，余心向善，虽九死其犹未悔！
唯愿诸君，以言语之利为天下开太平。负箧之日已成往事，康庄大道横亘眼前。往者，恩人之所恩；来者，爱人之所爱。仁道，一以贯之。
今日，一句恭喜，胜过万语千言。愿欢声笑语，响彻南湾琼霄！

王翠西UID: 3765221

最后给我们学校打一下广告，欢迎大家报考圣母大学。我JD毕业后找到了工作、并且抽中了H1B，但是因为国内爷爷得了癌症，我withdraw了，目前还在圣母大学商学院读数据科学的Master，考完麻省Bar之后就回国。在ND第四年了，家庭的观念对我的影响越来越深，这也是我们ND与其他法学院与众不同的地方。

王翠西UID: 3765221

【这是我校Ins发的最新动态】
Judge Amy Coney Barrett, professor of law and a 1997 graduate of Notre Dame Law School, was nominated today to the Supreme Court of the United States to fill the vacancy created by the death of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

She is the first Notre Dame graduate and faculty member to be nominated to serve on the nation’s highest court.

“The same impressive intellect, character and temperament that made Judge Barrett a successful nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals will serve her and the nation equally well as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court,” Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., said. “An alumna and a faculty member of Notre Dame Law School, Judge Barrett has epitomized the University’s commitment to teaching, scholarship, justice and service to society. She is a person of the utmost integrity who, as a jurist, acts first and foremost in accord with the law. I join her colleagues in the Law School and across the campus in congratulating her on the nomination, and wish her and her family well through what has become, sadly, a personally bruising confirmation process.”

王翠西UID: 3765221

【这是我们新上任的Dean Marcus Cole（牛顿院长去年退休了）在法学院Ins发的动态】
“Judge Amy Coney Barrett is an absolutely brilliant legal scholar and jurist. She is also one of the most popular teachers we have ever had here at Notre Dame Law School. Judge Barrett is incredibly generous with her time and wisdom while mentoring her students,” said Marcus Cole, Dean of Notre Dame Law School.

“On a personal note, she is one of the most thoughtful, open-minded, considerate and kind people I have ever met. She lives a life of humility and grace, devoted to her family and community. Judge Barrett has served our nation with true distinction from the bench, and would continue to do so if she were confirmed to serve on our nation’s highest court.”

狸猫火锅UID: 3924933

谢谢！互联网上太多政治性的评语，能看到这样personal的评价真的很开心。

ReallywellHyangUID: 3883453

不愧是寄托论坛....感谢楼主分享！

sakurawjyUID: 3807484

这个翻译我惊了，今天也是在寄托膜拜大佬的一天！

夏明朗是我男人UID: 4058579

哇！真的好棒啊！