WASHINGTON—Arguing that “judicial independence is under assault,” all 53 Republican U.S. senators have signed a letter to the Supreme Court criticizing five Democratic senators for, in their view, “openly” threatening the court with “political retribution” if it fails to embrace a restrictive view of Second Amendment rights in an upcoming challenge to a New York City gun law.
Led by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the five Democratic senators filed a sharply worded friend-of-the-court brief Aug. 12 in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. City of New York, the court’s first gun-rights case in nine years, which is expected to be heard during the approaching fall term.
