Daily Archives: July 15, 2009

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Sotomayor and the Pitfalls of Precedent

Senator Leahy put Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on the spot today, and her answers don’t surprise me in the least.  She paid the expected lip-service to the Heller decision:

Like you, I understand that how important the right to bear arms is to many, many Americans. In fact, one of my godchildren is a member of the NRA. And I have friends who hunt. I understand the individual right fully that the Supreme Court recognized in Heller.

All well and good, but her answers regarding her decision in Maloney v. Cuomo are a bit questionable.  As with Ricci v. DeStefano, she chose to defer rather blindly to precedent rather than risk making waves:

In Supreme Court province, the right is not fundamental. It’s a legal term. It’s not talking about the importance of the right in a legal term. It’s talking about is that right incorporated against the states.

Continued...