the judge who wrote that opinion was neil gorsuch, president trump's nominee to the united states supreme court as of about 84 minutes ago. he's somebody whose record we're about to find out a lot more about starting tonight. joining me now is the professor of constitutional law. great to have you here. >> thanks so much for having me. great to be here. >> we had telegraphing it might be judge gorsuch. what's your view -- first of all, just big picture as to whether this is a surprising nomination, whether this is a provocative nomination, what do you think? >> i don't think it's that provocative when you compare him to the other two candidates whose names were rooted about. so if you compare him to a pryor or hardiman. but what we have to compare him to is merrick garland. i don't want that to be lost. so we had a supreme court back in the beginning that was very fragile.