Potential Court Nominees on the Second Amendment

Scholar David Kopel reviews names that have been dropped as potential Supreme Court nominees to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens through the lens of the Second Amendment in a post at the Volokh Conspiracy.  From his report:

In order from worst to not-all-bad:

  • Strongly-ideological, highly-committed gun prohibitionist: Harold Koh.
  • Extensive record of anti-Second Amendment leadership: Secretary of State Clinton, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Gov. Deval Patrick.
  • Limited but clearly negative record on right to arms: Judge Diane Wood, Judge Merrick Garland.
  • Mixed record, but with very little positive: Amy Klobuchar.
  • Mixed record: Cass Sunstein, Janet Napolitano [negatives include the ridiculous Dept. of Homeland Security report conflating political dissent with terrorism; as governor she signed some pro-right to arms legislation, and vetoed other bills], Jennifer Granholm [like Napolitano, a mixed record as governor, including signing some important reforms].

He lists Elena Kagan as an unknown on the issue.

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