As President Trump applies his whack-a-mole, hammer-them-all-on-thehead theory of leadership, could a Justice Neil Gorsuch legal philosophy join opinions that would declare the president’s actions unconstitutional? It is a lot to ask when the president has just given you the greatest legal gift America can bestow. But if the bestower actually holds up federal money from the University of California or sanctuary cities, or does any other of the threatened unconstitutional actions in violation of established constitutional doctrine, the court will have to check and balance him as the country’s founders intended.

Judge Gorsuch is, at times, a positivist. He is outside mainstream American judicial decision-making. I have looked at the headings and results in all 237 of his decisions. I read those that might reflect U.S. Supreme Court issues in the future — those cases I examined much more closely.

Originally published in Law360 on February 3, 2017.