Opinion: Sotomayor hearings: Guns and godchildren

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Judge Sotomayor explained her views of the 2nd Amendment. She has been criticized by Republicans for a case, Maloney vs. Cuomo, in which the panel on which she sat held earlier this year that the constitutional right to bear arms found by the Supreme Court to exist in the District of Columbia doesn’t apply to the states.

Sotomayor says that because the high court has not yet ruled on the matter of whether such a right extends to the states -- a constitutional doctrine known as ‘incorporation’ -- she was bound by the precedent in her judicial circuit to uphold a regulation on lethal weapons. But, she said, she has an open mind on the matter. (The Supreme Court, likely with Sotomayor aboard, could hear the issue next term.)

She also revealed that one of her godchildren is a member of the National Rifle Assn.

-- James Oliphant

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Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor answers questions from ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) during the second day of her confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill July 14, 2009 in Washington, DC.