The Senate yesterday voted 72 to 27 to confirm Mark Jeremy Bennett to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. All 27 opposed to his confirmation were Republicans, who cited Bennett’s views on gun rights and the First Amendment. Bennett has been critical of the Citizens United decision and has supported a limited interpretation of the Second Amendment. Bennett is a 1979 graduate of Cornell Law School, former law clerk to Hon. Samuel P. King in the U.S. District Court for Hawaii, and served as Attorney General for Hawaii from 2003 to 2010. He was in private practice with the Honolulu firm Starn, O’Toole, Marcus and Fisher for 8 years prior to his confirmation and during this time also served as a Special Deputy Attorney General.