Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, July 14, 2009, prior to the start of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
By Susan Jones
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
CNSNews.com
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, asked Tuesday about her attitude toward the Second Amendment and its application to the states, said she understands “how important the right to bear arms is to many, many Americans.”
Sotomayor noted that one of her godchildren is a member of the NRA (National Rifle Association), and she said she has friends who hunt.
“I understand the individual right fully that the Supreme Court recognized in Heller (a reference to the 2008 case, District of Columbia v. Heller, which held that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to possess a firearm for private use. The Heller case struck down the city’s 32-year-old handgun ban.)
However, Sotomayor noted that the Supreme Court addressed a narrow issue in Heller – and that Justice Scalia, in a footnote, specifically mentioned earlier Supreme Court decisions reaffirming “that the Second Amendment applies only to the Federal Government,” not to the states.
Sotomayor ruled in January 2009 (in Maloney v. Cuomo) that the Second Amendment does not protect individuals from having their right to keep and bear arms restricted by state governments.
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