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...