The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged second amendment

Sessions Warns Against Sotomayor’s Vulnerability to the ‘Siren Call of Judicial Activism’

By | 07.27.09 | 1:43 pm

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has taken his case against Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to the public, explaining why he plans to vote against a nominee that even some in his own party are saying is among the most qualified candidates for the high court in decades.

Still, it’s not More…

Palin Wrap, Because MSNBC Didn’t Care

By | 07.26.09 | 8:52 pm

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said goodbye to her constituents Sunday afternoon and handed off the baton to Lieutenant Gov. Sean Parnell. Explaining her puzzling move, Palin cited her inability to get anything done as a lame duck — though her term would have ended in about a year and More…

Hatch, With a ‘Heavy Heart,’ Will Vote No on Sotomayor

By | 07.24.09 | 1:23 pm

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), a longtime member and former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today said he will vote against President Obama’s first Supreme Court pick, Sonia Sotomayor, because “her statements and record were too much at odds with the principles about the judiciary in which I deeply More…

A Liberal’s Vote for the Thune Gun Bill

By | 07.22.09 | 5:02 pm

Today’s vote to kill Sen. John Thune’s (R-S.D.) bill allowing the interstate transfer of concealed weapons permits broke down largely along predictable lines, with Republicans and rural-state Democrats voting in favor of the measure and more liberal Democrats opposing it.

A glaring exception to that rule, however, was More…

Sessions: Considering Foreign Law Would Kill Second Amendment Rights

By | 07.21.09 | 11:49 am

Perhaps unintentionally, the written followup questions from Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor make a strong case that consideration of foreign law in the debate over the Second Amendment would doom Republican efforts to read a “fundamental right” to gun ownership into the Constitution.

As More…

No Voice for Gun Control at Sotomayor Hearings

By | 07.17.09 | 10:15 am

After I wrote my earlier posts about how the National Rifle Association opposes the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court and explaining the “incorporation” debate that dominated much of the Second Amendment discussion at the hearing, I got a note from the Brady Campaign to Prevent More…

A Quick Primer on ‘Incorporation’

By | 07.16.09 | 5:35 pm

What is “incorporation?”

Among the many legal terms mentioned over the last four days of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings, the term “incorporation,” when it comes to the Second Amendment right to bear arms, is probably the most confusing.

Incorporation in this context refers to whether the Bill More…

NRA Opposes Sotomayor Nomination

By | 07.16.09 | 3:15 pm

Although the National Rifle Association has — at least officially — stayed out of this fight until now (though judging from some senators’ heavy questioning on gun issues, it was clearly weighing in behind the scenes), this afternoon the group issued a statement saying it would oppose the nomination of More…

Lindsey Graham: Sotomayor Supporter?

By | 07.16.09 | 10:52 am

Despite asking some of the harshest and arguably most patronizing questions of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor over the past three days, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) appears to be leaning toward voting for her.

Although he just used his questioning time this morning to charge her with engaging in “identity More…

Republicans Remain Nervous About Sotomayor and Gun Rights

By | 07.15.09 | 11:49 am

Second Amendment rights remain high on the list of issues Republicans are still nervous about when it comes to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. But no matter how they try to over-simplify the still-undecided question of whether the Constitution actually grants individual citizens a fundamental right to bear arms, Sotomayor More…