Sotomayor's views on guns prompt questions

updated 6:36 p.m. ET June 11, 2009

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor said Thursday that she would follow a historic ruling affirming Americans' right to own guns for self-defense, but pro-gun activists said they still believe she'd work to limit gun rights if confirmed for the high court.

Democratic Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado said Sotomayor told him during a private meeting that she considers the 2008 ruling that struck down a Washington, D.C., handgun ban as settled law that would guide her decisions in future cases. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court held that individuals have a constitutional right to guns.

But the statement gave little comfort to gun rights activists. Conservative Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said that earlier in the week, Sotomayor told him in a similar closed-door session that she stood by an appellate court decision she signed this year that said the Second Amendment protection from curbs on the right to bear arms applied only to federal laws — not state or local ones. That ruling, Maloney v. Cuomo, left it up to the Supreme Court to decide whether the rights recognized in the Heller case applied throughout the country.

The dueling statements called attention to a simmering and politically fraught debate over gun rights that transcends partisan lines. The issue is a tricky one for many Democrats who, like Udall, hail from conservative-leaning states in the South and West and often find themselves at odds with their party's liberal leaders' strong support for gun control measures. They're under intense pressure from gun rights advocates to oppose Sotomayor's nomination, so pinning her down on the topic is a major concern.

Hostile to gun rights?
Gun rights activists have cited the Maloney decision in accusing Sotomayor of being hostile to gun rights. In the case, Sotomayor and two other judges on the 2nd Circuit appeals court upheld a New York state law banning the possession of "chuka sticks." They said they were bound by an 1886 Supreme Court ruling — not by Heller, which didn't address the question of whether the Second Amendment applied to states.

Udall said he asked Sotomayor about her view of the Second Amendment during their visit.

"Clearly she spoke to the fact that settled law is just that, and the Heller case has been considered by the court, and she sees that as the law, and she will work off of what the court decided as other cases may come to the court's attention," Udall said.

DeMint also questioned Sotomayor about gun rights in a meeting earlier this week, and later criticized her for refusing to say the Second Amendment "protects a fundamental right that applies to all Americans." He said Sotomayor's statement on Heller "doesn't tell us much" about her view of the issue given the position she took this year in Maloney.

MORE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

The White House Section Front

NYT: White House intruders want to sell tale Oprah to visit White House for TV special Life isn’t all glamor for Obama crashers   Obama cites economy in weekly address Can Obama retain Hispanic support? Dinner crashers met Obama, White House says Ho-ho-ho! White House Christmas tree arrives Newsweek: How Obama is changing China Obama: Too many fear end of American dream Camera crew filmed White House crashers The White House Section Front   Add The White House headlines to your news reader: