APPOINTMENTS: BUT GORSUCH!(Neil Gorsuch)

• Author: Mangu-Ward, Katherine

A YEAR AGO, many conservatives and some libertarians held their noses and voted for Donald Trump on the theory that even if they didn't like the man himself, he'd likely make good appointments--or at least better appointments than his rival.

For some, Trump's early Supreme Court pick of Neil Gorsuch vindicated that voting strategy, which was particularly prevalent among constitutional conservatives. So pleased were these supporters with his choice that references to the jurist became a bit of a joke in Washington: "Sure, Trump's tweets are disconcerting. But Gorsuch!"

The president doesn't just appoint Supreme Court justices, however.

Several of Trump's high-level taps, including Betsy DeVos at the Department of Education and Ajit Pai at the Federal Communications Commission, have become liberal bugaboos for their deregulatory impulses. But the appointee with the greatest opportunity to change the direction of U.S. policy in a serious way is Trump's Justice Department selection: Jeff Sessions, a former senator from Alabama who has a long history of favoring prohibition and punishment.

Attorney General Sessions is less a criminal justice reformer than a criminal justice reactionary. During his confirmation hearing, he spoke approvingly of civil asset forfeiture, a practice in which money and other property are taken from people who have not been charged, let alone convicted, of any underlying crime.

A fair-weather federalist, Sessions supports states' rights right up until the moment that...