Risch, Crapo oppose Sotomayor’s confirmation

Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, both Republicans, said today they will vote against confirming Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. Risch, who previously served as the state’s governor and lieutenant governor, said he personally met with and interviewed Sotomayor and discussed water law, the Second Amendment and other matters with her. “I reviewed her cases and I listened to her confirmation hearings and have determined I cannot support her lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court,” he said in a statement today. “There is no question she is a genuinely nice, smart and well-intentioned person. However, her belief and pronouncement that the Second Amendment is not a fundamental right is something I cannot accept,” Risch said. Idaho Senator Mike Crapo released the following statement regarding his decision to vote against Supreme Court nominee of Sonia Sotomayor: In a separate statement, Crapo said, “Her testimony was evasive and lacked substance; in some circumstances, it was misleading and even contradictory to her own previous statements and writings.” He singled out Sotomayor’s stand in the Maloney case, in which she wrote that the right to bear arms is not a “fundamental” right. “Should Judge Sotomayor’s position in Maloney be upheld by the Supreme Court, Idahoans would lose their 2nd Amendment protection against state gun control laws,” Crapo said.