SAF: Anti-Gun Support for SCOTUS Nomination Raises Alarms

The nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court following the retirement of Associate Justice Stephen Breyer later this year raises alarms, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.

“Just the endorsements Judge Jackson’s nomination is receiving should be enough to cause concern,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “The nomination is being applauded by anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s gun prohibition lobbying groups including Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, and by the anti-gun Giffords Law Center and Brady group. There can be no stronger indication of where Judge Jackson stands on the individual right to keep and bear arms and how she might rule on Second Amendment issues.”

Judge Jackson has also been reversed by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, for what Prof. Jonathan Turley described as “judicial overreach.”

“The high court doesn’t need another liberal activist justice on the bench,” Gottlieb observed, “especially where Second Amendment issues are concerned. We know it is inappropriate to ask a Supreme Court nominee how he or she would rule on possible upcoming cases, but considering the energetic support Judge Jackson’ nomination is already receiving from the gun ban lobby, such questions aren’t even necessary.

“When the nation’s most extreme gun control lobbying groups throw their weight behind a judicial nominee,” he added, “there should be no misconception about where that nominee is likely to stand on Second Amendment rights, and frankly, it’s disappointing.

“Since Joe Biden promised to make gender and ethnicity the deciding issues in his Supreme Court nominations,” Gottlieb stated, “we were hopeful his selection would be someone upon whom we could depend for at least some semblance of objectivity. But not now, not with endorsements from organizations known to be hostile to Second Amendment rights, because that is and always has been their litmus test.

“For this reason and no other,” Gottlieb concluded, “Judge Jackson’s nomination raises red flags for gun owners. We implore the Senate Judiciary Committee to conduct a thorough and thoughtful vetting process, and to raise questions about her Second Amendment perspectives during any confirmation hearing.”