As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to scrutinize the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, one cause for great concern is Judge Kavanaugh’s dangerous and alarming position on the Second Amendment.
Based on what we already know, Judge Kavanaugh’s judicial record demonstrates an extreme view of the Second Amendment that elevates gun rights above public safety:
- Judge Kavanaugh has applied a dangerous interpretation of the Second Amendment when determining whether a law is constitutional, one that does not take into account a law’s impact on public safety.
- And, Judge Kavanaugh has made clear he would strike down prohibitions on the AR-15 and other assault-style weapons. In 2011, he dissented from a decision upholding Washington, D.C.’s prohibition on assault-style weapons and its requirement to register handguns. The dissent put Judge Kavanaugh at odds not only with the two other Republican-appointed judges on the court hearing the case, but also every other federal and state appeals court to address the issue.
This matters because ten years ago, in its ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court established a clear precedent: while law-abiding citizens have a right to have firearms at home for self defense, the Second Amendment is not absolute and allows for common-sense laws to protect public safety.
The Court’s decision in that case, written by Justice Antonin Scalia, states that “Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.” The Court also confirmed “that the right was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.” Judges appointed by both Republicans and Democrats since then have repeatedly upheld reasonable gun laws as consistent with the Second Amendment.
Read more about Judge Kavanaugh’s judicial record on firearms and the Second Amendment, and don’t hesitate to reach out and speak with a legal expert on the Kavanaugh record.