By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel testified Thursday on behalf of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, saying gun rights would not be jeopardized if she is confirmed.
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, McDaniel, a gun rights advocate, defended President Obama’s high court nominee against criticism of her ruling as a member of a federal appeals court panel that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to own a firearm on the federal level, not at the state or city level.
“I do believe that the Second Amendment is a fundamental right, and I do believe the Second Amendment is an individual right, not one tied to participation in a militia,” McDaniel said in response to a question from U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.
“I am not … concerned with Judge Sotomayor’s position,” McDaniel said. “I am confident that her answers that she has provided to this committee and her record are consistent with one another, and I do not believe that the right to keep and bear arms are at risk with this nominee, (or) frankly, I wouldn’t have testified for her.”
After his testimony, McDaniel said in a telephone interview that he was confident Sotomayor would be confirmed by the Senate.
“I think the people of Arkansas should be comfortable with this nominee,” said McDaniel. “This is someone who is not an activist judge. This is someone who will follow the law and rule fairly on the Supreme Court. I have every confidence in that, not just based on any one case or her life’s biography, but on … her life’s work.”
The attorney general described the committee room where the hearing occurred as “an intimidating setting,” but said it was a “privilege to be (there) to help her.”
McDaniel was one of several witnesses to testify on Sotomayor’s behalf before the Judiciary Committee on the third and final day of the hearings. A vote is expected before Congress’ Aug. 7 recess and with Democrats in the majority, Sotomayor is expected to be confirmed as the nation’s first Hispanic justice.
The Arkansas attorney general in his statement to the committee also defended Sotomayor’s 2007 ruling in favor of the city of New Haven, Conn., in a lawsuit by white firefighters filed after the city threw out a test for promotions when no black firefighter scored high enough to qualify.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the ruling by a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, saying the city’s actions discriminated against white firefighters.
“In the end, I believe Judge Sotomayor and her colleagues on the Second Circuit reached a decision that was based on the law,” McDaniel testified.
The attorney general, who has been vacationing with his family this week, said he used campaign funds to charter a plan from Destin, Fla., Thursday morning for a flight to Washington, D.C.
He testified before the committee after having lunch with U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.
