The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently. The court cannot (1)_______ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law (2)_______ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that (3)_______ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.

    Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisions will be (4)_______ as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not (5)_______ by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself. (6)_______ to the code of conduct that (7)_______ to the rest of the federal judiciary.

    This and other similar cases (8)_______ the question of whether there is still a (9)_______ between the court and politics.

The framers of the Constitution envisioned law (10)_______ having authority apart from politics. They gave justices permanent positions (11)_______ they would be free to (12)_______ those in power and have no need to (13)_______ political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely (14)_______ .

    Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social (15)_______ like liberty and property. When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it (16)_______ is inescapably political—which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily (17)_______ as unjust.

    The justices must (18)_______ doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves (19)_______ to the code of conduct. That would make their rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and, (20)_______, convincing as law.

答案精析：动词辨析题。why引导的表语从句主干是decisions are _____ as unjust。从主干可知决策是不公正的，which指代的是前面提到的法院形成的法规带有政治性，这也是decisions are _____的原因，带有政治性且不公正的判决应该被驳回，故正确答案为A选项。

错项排除：B选项与原文表达的含义相反，故错误。原文没有提及给决策分等级，故C选项错误。D选项表示“扭曲”，前文提到这些决策带有政治性，因而这些决策就是不公正的，所以不能说将之“扭曲”为不公正的，故D选项错误。

长难句分析：When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it shapes is inescapably political—which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily dismissed as unjust.

本句为复合句，句子主干是the law is political，是主系表结构，it shapes是省略引导词的定语从句，修饰the law。When引导条件状语从句，使用了主谓宾结构。破折号后which引导定语从句，其中嵌套了why引导的表语从句。表语从句的主干是decisions…are so easily dismissed as unjust，使用了被动语态，as unjust是主语补足语。split along ideological lines是动词过去分词作后置定语，修饰表语从句的主语decisions。

句意是：法院在处理社会政策决策问题时，所形成的法律会不可避免地带有政治影响——正因为如此，由于与意识形态相左的决定会很容易被视为不公从而遭到驳回。