Enough with the semantics. Back to the question - how would things be different if he was confirmed?
One of the most conservative jurists in the United States died last week. His thoughts on the Second Amendment are instructive.Im not an expert on the Second Amendment, Judge Robert Bork said in 1989, but its intent was to guarantee the right of states to form militia, not for individuals to bear arms. In 1991, Bork noted the weak support the gun lobby has in the Second Amendment.
The National Rifle Association is always arguing that the Second Amendment determines the right to bear arms, Bork said. But I think it really is peoples right to bear arms in a militia. The NRA thinks that it protects their right to have Teflon-coated bullets. But thats not the original understanding.
In a 1997 book, Bork took further exception to efforts to expand the narrow words of the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment was designed to allow states to defend themselves against a possibly tyrannical national government, Bork wrote. Now that the federal government has stealth bombers and nuclear weapons, it is hard to imagine what people would need to keep in the garage to serve that purpose.