WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani won a warm reception from the conservative Federalist Society on Friday, promising that if he reached the White House, he would appoint future Supreme Court justices who are like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
The former New York mayor also endorsed gun rights under the 2nd Amendment, an issue now pending before the high court.
Giuliani has been working hard to win the backing of conservatives, despite his support for legal abortion and gay rights. With an assist from former Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson, Giuliani was endorsed last week by Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson.
Olson, who was a driving force behind the Federalist Society, gave Giuliani a glowing introduction and said they had been close friends since the early days of the Reagan administration.
In his remarks, Giuliani sounded the themes that appeal to the conservative lawyers' group, but he made no mention of Roe vs. Wade, the ruling that first endorsed a right to abortion.
Giuliani said, "We need judges who embrace originalism," the view that the Constitution should be read in line with what it meant when it was adopted. "We believe in the Constitution as it was written," he said to applause from the group.
Citing it as an "excellent interpretation" of the law, he lauded the recent ruling that struck down a 31-year ban on handguns in Washington, D.C. Residents may have hunting rifles or shotguns at home with trigger locks, but handguns are illegal, except for police officers.
The ruling was the first by a federal appeals court to throw out a gun law as unconstitutional.
The 2nd Amendment says: "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
For most of the nation's history, judges have read the 2nd Amendment as protecting a state's right to maintain a well-regulated militia, while permitting state regulation of guns.
But in recent years, many legal scholars have come to accept the view of gun advocates: that the amendment protects an individual's right to have a firearm free from regulation.
It is "an obvious conclusion that it is an individual right," Giuliani said, "not a right that pertains to the militia."
The Supreme Court could announce Tuesday whether it will hear the city's appeal in the district's gun case.
