Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) are refusing — at this point — to say whether they would support an Obama nominee to the United States Supreme Court to replace Antonin Scalia.
All four Senator are from red states, and Democratic Senators in similar situations who supported gun control in 2013 fared badly during the 2014 midterm elections. In fact, Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO), Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC), and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) all voted for gun control in 2013 and were all ousted in the 2014.
According to The Daily Signal, Donnelly, Heitkamp, Manchin, and Tester all refused to give comment when asked if they would support an Obama nominee for the Supreme Court. And all four Senators will have to answer to voters in 2018 for any support they give to a nominee who may turn the tide on District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010).
Breitbart News previously reported that Heller struck down Washington D.C.’s gun ban on grounds that it unconstitutionally infringed on each individual’s right to own a gun. McDonald struck down Chicago’s gun ban on the ground that Second Amendment rights are incorporated under the Fourteenth Amendment, thereby restricting not only federal infringement of the right to keep and bear arms but state-level infringement as well.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.