Gun Advocates Step In to Oppose D.C. Circuit Pick (Halligan approved out of committee)

[usregimechange]

New York lawyer Caitlin Halligan won a committee vote today in her bid for a spot on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, but Senate Republicans made clear they're planning a fight based in part on gun rights.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-8 along party lines to endorse Halligan’s nomination and send it to the full Senate. President Barack Obama nominated Halligan in September, choosing her for an influential court that’s known as a training ground for potential Supreme Court nominees.

Republicans hadn’t previously said how they would vote on Halligan’s nomination. But Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the committee’s ranking Republican, read a long speech before the vote criticizing Halligan’s record and questioning the need for another judge on the D.C. Circuit.

Grassley announced that two gun-rights groups, the National Rifle Association and the Gun Owners of America, have decided to oppose Halligan’s nomination. In letters to the committee dated Wednesday, the groups cite Halligan’s work as New York’s state solicitor general suing gun manufacturers as public nuisances. She also worked on challenging a 2005 federal law that granted the manufacturers immunity against most suits, the letters say.

http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2011/03/dc-circuit-pick-becomes-proxy-for-gun-debate.html

[Zoeisright]

1. Oh shut the fuck up, Assley (sic).

That asshole is aptly named. I hate his fucking guts.