Specter Supports Anti-Second Amendment Sotomayor
Despite the fact that Sonia Sotomayor told Senators that she could think of no law that allows an individual to defend themselves from attack and her clear views against incorporation, Sen. Arlen Specter placed party loyalty above the Constitution and supported her nomination in the first steps toward her confirmation to the country’s highest court.
In a 13-6 vote, Sotomayor cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee, and a full vote on her confirmation is expected in the Senate next week.
The National Rifle Association is opposing the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor based on troubling answers given during questioning by the members of the Judiciary Committee. Her answers indicated that she disagreed with the Supreme Court’s Heller case that individuals have the right to self-defense. In addition, she refused to consider Heller a matter of settled law while considering more controversial cases to have settled law on other issues. In a troubling development, she also refused to say whether she would recuse herself in line with court traditions should a case on Second Amendment incorporation be heard. (She has already ruled that the Second Amendment does not apply to the states in Maloney v. Cuomo, and similar cases may be heard by the Supreme Court alongside an appeal to the Maloney case.)
