Sonia Sotomayor and the Second Amendment

During last year’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Sonia
Sotomayor, one of the most controversial issues centered on the
would-be justice’s approach to the Second Amendment. As
I argued at the time, her 2nd Circuit vote in the case of
Maloney v. Cuomo, where she held that the Second Amendment
did not apply to the states, did not bode well for her future
treatment of gun rights on the Supreme Court. It turns out those
fears were well-founded. On Monday, Sotomayor joined the dissent of
Justice Stephen Breyer in McDonald v. Chicago. As gun
rights expert David Kopel
explains in today’s Washington Times, Breyer’s dissent
did not just oppose extending the Second Amendment to Chicago, it
opposed the Second Amendment itself:

Not only did Justice Stephen G. Breyer vote against extending
the Second Amendment to state and local governments, he also argued
forcefully and at length for overturning Heller and, therefore, for
turning the Second Amendment into a practical nullity. Ominously,
Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined the Breyer dissent - contradicting
what she told the U.S. Senate and the American people last
summer....

The Breyer-Sotomayor-Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissent urged that
Heller be overruled and declared, "In sum, the Framers did not
write the Second Amendment in order to protect a private right of
armed self defense."

Contrast that with her Senate testimony: "I understand the
individual right fully that the Supreme Court recognized in
Heller." And, "I understand how important the right to bear arms is
to many, many Americans."

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