When confirmation hearings begin next week for Supreme Court-nominee Sonia Sotomayor, one of the Republicans’ best hopes for preventing her nomination is to convince red-state Democrats that she favors more gun restrictions. <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24720.html" title="From POLITICO“>From POLITICO:
Sen. Jon Tester, a moderate Montana Democrat and a proponent of broader gun rights, said Sotomayor’s views on the Second Amendment are “very much a factor” on whether he’d vote for her.
But he said “she’s solid on the Second Amendment,” citing her assurance that she’d follow existing precedent.
Asked whether the NRA’s opposition would sway him to vote against her, Tester said, “If I get an inkling that she’s not on top of that issue, then, yeah, but it’ll be from my perspective.”
It should be noted that the NRA hasn’t, so far, pressured moderate lawmakers to oppose the nomination. And the gun-rights group, the American Hunters and Shooters Association, is supporting Sotomayor.