THE HILL: Supreme Court enters new era, raising conservative hopes.

The ascension of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court is expected to usher in a new conservative majority that could become part of President Trump’s legacy.

Gorsuch, who was confirmed by the Senate on Friday, is widely expected to shift the ideological balance of the court to the right, with his views seen as mostly in line with the man he is replacing: the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

But some court watchers say Gorsuch may be even more conservative than Scalia, his mentor and a fellow adherent to the originalist view of the Constitution.

“I think it’s interesting he’s cast as either a follower of Scalia or a more temperate version of Scalia, but in fact it seems that he may be quite to the right of Scalia in certain areas,” said Caroline Fredrickson, president of the left-leaning American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.

Like Scalia, Gorsuch was part of a majority ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby stores. His 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that that the Affordable Care Act could not compel certain companies to provide health coverage for contraception if it violated their religious beliefs.

The Supreme Court upheld that ruling in 2014.

While Gorsuch ducked questions at his confirmation hearings about his views on equal protections for LGBTQ Americans, liberal groups expect him to give heavy weight to religious freedom in decisions about civil rights.

Don’t get too excited, guys, until Trump has replaced at least one left-leaning judge with a conservative. This was fundamentally just a holding action.