President Donald Trump has officially nominated Judge Neil M. Gorsuch as the next member of the U.S. Supreme Court. What is his opinion on marijuana legalization?

Judge Neil M. Gorsuch.

In a press conference this evening Donald Trump announced that he has officially nominated Judge Neil M. Gorsuch to become the ninth and tie-breaking member of the United States Supreme Court. Gorsuch is a federal appeals judge as part of the 10th District Court of Appeals, based in Denver; he is also an adjunct law professor at the University of Colorado.

Gorsuch, 49, has a history of conservative values and rulings. He would seamlessly assume the ideological lean the position had when it was held by the late Judge Antonin Scalia. Many liberals, and even moderates, fume at this thought; they had the opportunity for the first time in decades to take control of the Supreme Court when former President Obama nominated Merrick Garland last year. Of course, as everyone knows, Republicans spent months refusing to vote for Garland; this gave Trump an immediate opportunity to fill the vacancy.

Gorsuch, who has been praised by his students at the liberal University of Colorado, has said very little about his opinion of marijuana and its potential legalization. However, Michael Bli (named changed by request), a former student of Gorsuch, tells us he asked him a few years ago whether or not he supports legalization, and Gorsuch responded by saying that he at the very least supports “the federal government getting out of the business of prohibiting in.”

Although this is very little to go by, it is an indication that Gorsuch may support state rights on the issue of cannabis legalization.

Gorsuch now has a nomination process to go through, one that is expected to be heated with many Democrats already vowing to oppose to the pick.

[Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect that Michael Bli isn’t the student’s real name – it was changed at his request (we verified that he actually attended the college as claimed).]