Sotomayor Hearings Will Focus on Gun Rights
Sen. Jeff Sessions said the Second Amendment is a likely topic for the second day of hearings
It may be the case, as GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham told Sonia Sotomayor on the opening day of her confirmation hearings, that her ascension to the country's highest court is a lock, baring a "meltdown" by the nominee. But that doesn't mean that the minority party won't have tough questions for President Obama's first Supreme Court pick.
Minutes after Monday's hearing wrapped up, the Senate Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican, Jeff Sessions, told reporters that the Second Amendment will be a likely focus when the hearings resume Tuesday. "No surprise attacks," the Alabama senator cautioned, adding that the judge's record left him troubled and looking for clarification about her judicial philosophy.
During his opening statement, Sessions said he believes that the country's judicial system is at a "dangerous crossroads" and called some of Sotomayor's past statements "shocking and offensive." He said that her ruling in a weapons case will come under particular scrutiny. Sandy Froman, a National Rifle Association board member and past NRA president, is on the GOP witness list for the hearings.
This year, Sotomayor concurred with a ruling in a case, Maloney v. Cuomo, brought by a New York man who said that a ban on a martial arts weapon constituted an infringement on his right to keep and bear arms. Sotomayor disagreed, noting that states have the authority to regulate weapons under federal law, despite an earlier ruling from the Supreme Court that struck down a handgun ban in the District of Columbia.
The most frequently cited case mentioned by critics of the nominee, involving firefighters from New Haven, Conn., has received much attention but is very unlikely to derail the nomination, one Republican staffer said. Less discussed issues like gun control, which resonate strongly with conservative voters in particular, could provide more traction and, if not sink the nominee, at least allow GOP inquisitors to score political points with constituents back home.
- See photos of Sotomayor's confirmation hearing.
- Read 10 Things You Didn't Know About Sonia Sotomayor.
Reader Comments
Individual vs. the state
Sotomayor believes in the complete sovereignty of the state and complete sovereign immunity. To her, individuals have rights, so long as none conflict with the current interests of the state.
Which makes all rights privileges not just subject to limits of action, but subject to general revocation without intense debate based on the original writings, debates and Constitution.
She did a lot of tap dancing at her confirmation hearing, but her decisions and written opinions spoke volumes.
They actually fear that???
It must be understood that even if the second amendment is never applied to the states under the 14th amendment, the 2nd still applies to the federal government. The Supreme Court in D.C. v. Heller has already forbidden a total gun ban, and this ruling is most certainly legally binding on the federal government. The notion that the federal government is going to impose a total ban on private ownership and a program of gun confiscation is just pure BS. It's just the work of wacko conspiracy theorists with a pro-gun slant.
Is ts appropriate to have a pro-gun litmus test for judicial nominees?
You have people on both sides of the abortion debate (pro-life and pro-choice), advocates for strict church-state separation, Christian conservatives, feminists, African-American civil-rights leaders (i.e. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton), and dozens of other special interests trying to impose litmus tests for Supreme Court and lower-court nominees. Since the Supreme Court ruled last year in Heller that the 2nd Amendment grants at least a limited individual right to gun ownership, the NRA, Gun Owners of America, and other gun-rights groups are attempting to promote a so-called "pro-2nd amendment" litmus test for judicial nominees.
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