Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is a notable dissenter when it comes to the Second Amendment, rejecting “a private right of armed self-defense.” However, she receives protection from armed guards herself.
In July 2024, an incident occurred outside her home at approximately 1:00 am. An 18-year-old named Kenneth Flowers allegedly pointed a gun at a U.S. Marshal assigned to protect Justice Sotomayor, prompting the Marshal to open fire in self-defense. The shots left Flowers with non-life-threatening injuries.
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) had made its stance clear on Second Amendment rights in the 2010 case McDonald v. Chicago, where it found that such rights were incorporated via the Fourteenth Amendment. The majority opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito, with two dissents from Justices John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer. Notably, Breyer was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Sotomayor in his dissent.
Breyer/Ginsberg/Sotomayor argued that the Second Amendment’s text, history, or underlying rationale did not warrant characterizing it as “fundamental” when seeking to protect the keeping and bearing of arms for private self-defense purposes. Furthermore, they stressed that there was no popular consensus that the private self-defense right described in the Heller decision was fundamental.
In conclusion, Breyer/Ginsberg/Sotomayor maintained that the Framers did not write the Second Amendment to protect a private right of armed self-defense. They highlighted the lack of consensus on whether the right is, or was, “fundamental.
Despite her stance on the Second Amendment, Justice Sotomayor enjoys the protection of armed guards as she continues to challenge the notion that it safeguards a private right to self-defense.