Where does Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson stand on the Second Amendment?

…it seems Judge Jackson’s opinions got clarified just a bit.

See, she had me right up until those last three words.

To be fair, the Heller decision actually did revolve around the right for self-defense in the home–the decision overturned a law that required guns kept in the home to be rendered useless for self-defense–but that doesn’t make those words somehow more comforting.

So she’s not exactly wrong.

The good news is that this wasn’t necessarily a reflection of her own views on the Second Amendment. That doesn’t make me any more comfortable with those three words, mind you, but they’re not inaccurate.

Unfortunately, that’s just about all we have. She was asked about NYSRPA v. Bruen, which she declined to answer, and that’s been pretty much it.

Why?

It’s possible that with the current makeup of the Court they’re not overly worried about where a liberal justice may land on the issue, figuring her opinion will be largely irrelevant in such a case. I’m not sure I’d actually trust that, but who knows?

Either way, as her confirmation continues, I expect we’ll hear a whole lot of strange continue to come out of the hearings. My hope is that we’ll get something more substantive on the issue of the Second Amendment as the current makeup isn’t likely to be eternal.

While I don’t really see Jackson not being confirmed, we’d still do well to vet her on issues like the Second Amendment beyond just a cursory passthrough of the subject. As it stands now, we really don’t know a whole lot about her views on whether the Second Amendment is up for restriction and, if so, how much or why it’s worthy of restrictions we’d never tolerate on another constitutionally protected right.

I expect better out of our Senators.