Kavanaugh Files: Second Amendment

Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of stories examining what Democrats are saying about Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh and what Kavanaugh’s record shows on these issues.

Democrats have described Brett Kavanaugh as “a true Second Amendment radical” who is “far outside the mainstream of legal thought” — more conservative than the late Justice Antonin Scalia. The criticism stems from Kavanaugh’s dissent in a 2011 appeals court ruling that upheld the District of Columbia’s law banning semi-automatic rifles.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein cited the judge’s 2011 dissent in her opening remarks on the first day of Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 4.

Here we take a look at Kavanaugh’s record on the Second Amendment.

Kavanaugh’s Dissent in Heller II

“I’m left with the fact that your reasoning is far outside the mainstream of legal thought and that it surpasses the views of Justice Scalia, at the Sept. 4 hearing. “Even Scalia understood that weapons that are like M-16 rifles or weapons that are most useful in military service can in fact be regulated.”