I’ve said it before (here and here), but I’ll say it again: gun control and abortion are flip sides of the same coin. Each is used to punish the opposition:abortion restrictions to punish the left, and gun control to punish the right.
But these political blackjacks are typically used by … well, politicians. So why does it appear that Justice Sotomayer wielded a threat to the 2nd amendment during oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health? Why was she using a political threat to gun rights while at the same time decrying the politicization of the court?
Here is the passage of concern, where she is arguing that a refusal to back Roe and Casey would signal a politicization of the court. I would urge you to read the entire transcript, or better yet listen to the audio of the arguments:
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?
MR. STEWART: I —
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: I –I –I don’t see how it is possible. It’s what Casey talked about when it talked about watershed decisions. Some of them, Brown versus Board of Education it mentioned, and this one have such an entrenched set of expectations in our society that this is what the Court decided, this is what we will follow, that the — that we won’t be able to survive if people believe that everything, including New York versus Sullivan — I could name any other set of rights, including the Second Amendment, by the way. There are many political people who believe the Court erred in seeing this as a personal right as — as opposed to a militia right. If people actually believe that it’s all political, how will we survive? How will the Court survive?
Justice Sotomayer is implying that the 2nd Amendment interpretation in Heller could fall victim to politics if Roe is overturned. But you know what’s sad about this exchange? We all know that if she had the votes she would overturn Heller in a heartbeat (Want proof? read her opinion in Maloney v. Cuomo). She’s a political “activist” justice, but she’s essentially claiming it’s unfair to use such tactics on topics she favors.
Can you pronounce “hypocrite”?