NRA Takes Aim At Sotomayor

Going into the Sonia Sotomayor hearings, the National Rifle Association disappointed conservatives by withholding a decision on whether to oppose her nomination, with leaders saying only that they harbored "very serious concerns" about her.

Late Thursday, the NRA came out against Sotomayor in no uncertain terms, saying the judge's record and testimony at the hearings "clearly demonstrate a hostile view toward the 2nd Amendment and the fundamental right of self-defense guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution."

Specifically, Chris Cox and Wayne LaPierre, the top dogs at the NRA, released a joint statement that Sotomayor's role in deciding a case now labeled Maloney v. Rice in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as her answers about that case this week, confirm that she does not believe that the right to bear arms is a fundamental right under the Constitution.

Although Sotomayor did agree with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that the right to bear arms is an individual right (as decided by District of Columbia v. Heller), she split hairs with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) over whether it is a "fundamental" right. When Hatch said Sotomayor had "suggested that the right to possess a gun is not a fundamental right" and could be overridden by state and local laws, she responded, "It's not that I considered it unfundamental, but that the Supreme Court didn't consider it fundamental so as to be incorporated against the state."

In 2008, Sotomayor sat on the three-judge panel on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that heard the Maloney case. James Maloney sued Nassau County and the State of New York after he was arrested for keeping nunchucks in his house. The state has a 34-year-old ban on possession of the martial arts weapon. Maloney said the Second Amendment should guarantee his right to keep and bear arms, even nunchucks.

The Second Circuit panel wrote that the Second Amendment applies to the federal government and does not overrule a state's right to govern itself. "It is settled law. . . that the Second Amendment applies only to limitations the federal government seeks to impose on this right," the opinion said.

The Maloney case is pending before the Supreme Court. Sotomayor said this week that she would recuse herself from the Maloney case, but not from any case that dealt with the same issue.

Because of the Maloney case and Sotomayor's general discussion of Second Amendment issues this week, LaPierre and Cox said, "We believe any individual who does not agree that the Second Amendment guarantees a fundamental right and who does not respect our God-given right of self-defense should not serve on any court, much less the highest court in the land."