(本文选自《经济学人》20210619期)
背景介绍：
美国总统作为美国的国家元首，是世界上极具影响力的人物，可以代表国家发表政治立场，所以看起来好像只要成为总统，就可以叱咤风云呼风唤雨。但其实并非如此，在美国国内，总统连召集州长开会的权力都没有，有时甚至会被州长“指着鼻子骂”。如今，美国人在州长究竟应该拥有多大权力的问题上产生了分歧。
America debates how much power state governors should have
State legislatures want more oversight over their executives in an emergency
One year ago, America’s governors were having a moment. Covid-19 cases were rising, federal leadership was absent and much of the responsibility for fighting the pandemic fell on their shoulders.
一年前，美国各州的州长们正经历着这样的时刻。新冠肺炎患者数量正在上升，联邦领导层缺席，抗击疫情的大部分责任都落在了他们的肩上。
Before Andrew Cuomo was mired in personal and professional scandals, his daily press briefings were must-see TV. Gretchen Whitmer’s star rose in the Democratic Party after she sparred with Donald Trump, who referred to her as “the woman from Michigan”—a phrase her supporters soon had
emblazoned
on T-shirts.
在安德鲁·库默陷入个人及职业丑闻之前，他每天的新闻发布会都是美国人必看的电视节目。在与唐纳德·特朗普发生口角后，格雷琴·惠特默在民主党中声名鹊起。特朗普将她称之为“来自密歇根的女人”——她的支持者很快将这一称谓印在了T恤上。
But many saw lockdowns, mask mandates and other emergency powers assumed by governors as
infringements
on their civil liberties. Early this year, lawmakers entered new legislative sessions in a power-restricting mood.
但许多人认为，州长采取的封锁措施、强制戴口罩的要求和其他紧急权力侵犯了他们的公民自由。今年早些时候，立法者们带着限制权力的情绪召开了新的立法会议。
So far this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, lawmakers in 45 states have introduced more than 300 bills and resolutions concerning legislative oversight of governors’ emergency powers, with 14 states enacting such measures.
全国州议会会议的数据显示，今年到目前为止，45个州的立法者提出了300多份有关对州长紧急权力立法监督的法案和决议，其中有14个州正在实施此类措施。
Most new laws place time limits on governors’ emergency orders, and require the legislature’s consent to extend them. Ohio’s legislature granted itself the power to rescind public-health orders from the state’s health department. A law in Utah prohibits the governor from placing stricter emergency limits on religious gatherings than on other meetings.
大多数新的法律对州长的紧急命令施加了时间限制，并且需要立法机关的同意才能进行延长。俄亥俄州的立法机构授予了自己撤销该州卫生部门公共卫生命令的权利。犹他州的一项法律禁止州长对宗教集会施加比其他会议更严格的紧急限制。
A national reckoning over gubernatorial power is unusual in American history. Most emergencies are local or regional, but covid-19 affected every state and municipality. Asking how powerful governors should be is welcome, for two reasons.
在美国历史上，对州长的权力进行全国性清算是很不寻常的。大多数紧急情况是地方性或区域性的，但新冠肺炎疫情却影响到了每个州和市。试问州长应该拥有多大的权力，人们非常关心这个问题，原因有两点。
First, because they have grown far more powerful than they used to be. State governors were at first little more than figureheads. Miriam Seifter, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says that they became more active in the early 20th century, when figures such as Robert La Follette of Wisconsin and Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey pioneered regulatory and electoral reforms; and as the administrative state expanded after the second world war.
首先，因为他们比过去更有权势了。州长最初不过是有名无实的首脑。威斯康辛大学麦迪逊分校的法学教授米里亚姆·塞夫特表示，在20世纪初，当威斯康星州的罗伯特·拉弗莱特(和新泽西州的伍德罗·威尔逊等人物率先进行监管和选举改革时，州长一职开始变得活跃起来；并随着行政国家在二战后得到权力的加强。
Today many governors wield powers that even the president lacks, such as the line-item veto, which allows them to delete parts of a bill without rejecting the whole thing.
如今，许多州长甚至拥有连总统都没有的权力，比如单项否决权，即他们可以删除法案的部分内容而不否决整个法案。
Second, the question suggests that with the immediate threat of the pandemic receding, Americans are starting to assess how their governments responded to covid-19.
其次，这个问题表明，随着疫情直接威胁的消退，美国人开始评估他们的政府是如何应对疫情的。
“The idea that after a crisis, legislatures and the public would deliberate and reflect on a
gubernatorial
emergency response, and then follow that with tailored reforms...That’s a good thing,” says Ms Seifter. “That's part of a healthy system of checks and balances.”
塞弗特说：“在危机过后，立法机构和公众会对州长的应急反应进行思考与反思，然后再进行有针对性的改革...这是一件好事，这是一个健康的制衡体系的一部分。”
Before the pandemic “governors often seemed like a footnote”, says John Weingart, the Director of Rutgers University’s Centre on the American Governor. “If nothing else, people have seen that the office of the governor is important—however one thinks their powers need to be adjusted or not.”
罗格斯大学美国州长研究中心主任约翰·温加特说：“在疫情爆发前，州长往往看起来像是一个脚注。至少，人们已经看到了州长这一职位的重要性，只是在州长的权力是否需要调整的问题上仍存在分歧。”
(红色标注词为重难点词汇)
本文翻译：Vinnie
校核：Vinnie
编辑：Vinnie
去年，随着新冠肺炎疫情在美国各地蔓延，特朗普未能采取有效措施以遏制疫情的发展，许多州长对此颇为不满，于是他们干脆各自实施疫情防控措施，而毫不理睬白宫下达的命令。美国总统是联邦政府的最高统治者，但是对于下属的各个州来说，州长才是州政府的最高长官。总统是三军统帅，拥有对美军的指挥权。但实际上州长也是有着军权的，他们能够指挥的是各州的国民警卫队，由此可见美国的州长所拥有的巨大权力。
emblazon
[ɪmˈbleɪzn] vt. 颂扬；用纹章装饰
