Stephen Halbrook Testifies Against Sotomayor for Supreme Court

Independent Institute Research Fellow Stephen P. Halbrook testified today before the Senate Judiciary Committee against the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor for Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In his testimony, Dr. Halbrook noted that:

Legitimate concerns exist about the selection of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court with regard to the interests of the tens of millions of Americans who exercise Second Amendment rights. As an appellate judge, she participated in rendering decisions which expressed little regard for the constitutional right of the people to keep and bear arms.

His testimony reviews in depth various cases in which she has been involved and concludes that “Judge Sotomayor adhered to two per curiam decisions which gave short shrift to Second Amendment rights.”

The Independent Institute’s recent book by Dr. Halbrook, The Founders’ Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms, formed the basis for his Amici Curiae Brief on behalf of 55 members of the Senate, the Senate President, and 250 members of the House of Representatives, in the successful, landmark, 2008 case of District of Columbia v. Heller before the U.S. Supreme Court.