After the Supreme Court’s Monday decision extending gun rights nationwide, the Second Amendment front moved to the Senate, where the National Rifle Association and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence squared off over Elena Kagan, President Barack Obama’s nominee to succeed retired Justice John Paul Stevens.
In two days of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, “she refused to acknowledge respect for the God-given right of self-defense,” NRA officials Chris Cox and Wayne LaPierre said in a statement. “She should not serve on any court, let alone be confirmed to a lifetime seat on the highest court in the land.”
In a move likely to suppress pro-Kagan votes from rural-state senators, the NRA said it would consider positions on the nominee in future candidate evaluations.
In contrast, Brady Center President Paul Helmke said his group was “encouraged that Elena Kagan appeared to be closely involved and supportive of the Clinton administration’s aggressive response to the nation’s gun violence epidemic. Her testimony has provided ample reason to think that she will interpret and apply the Second Amendment consistent with the urgent need to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous people.”
During her scholarly career, Kagan, a former dean of Harvard Law School and now the U.S. solicitor general, paid little attention to gun rights or the Second Amendment.
At her confirmation hearing Wednesday, however, she said, “I very much appreciate how deeply important the right to bear arms is to millions and millions of Americans. And I accept Heller”–the 2008 Supreme Court decision striking down a District of Columbia handgun ban–“which made clear that the Second Amendment conferred that right upon individuals and not simply collectively.”
White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said that Kagan “made clear during the hearings that Heller and McDonald are the law of the land and therefore that the 2nd Amendment guarantees an individual, fundamental right to bear arms.” He went on to say that Chief Justice John Roberts had said during his own Senate confirmation hearings that “judges confront issues differently than staff attorneys for an administration with a position. Elena Kagan agreed this week and said judges must demonstrate restraint and respect for precedent.”
Please let me know if that is the case.