Rarely does a conservative freshman senator receive serious blowback from conservative leaders for taking a stance that itself sounds conservative, and rarely is the blowback as deserved as that now being experienced by Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley.

Several outlets last weekend reported that Hawley is threatening to vote against Neomi Rao, President Trump’s nominee for judgeship on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals seat vacated by now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Hawley, just elected in November as the latest great new hope for conservatives, confirmed to Axios’ Jonathan Swan that he is concerned Rao will not show the requisite “strong record on life,” and that specifically, “I have heard directly from at least one individual who said Rao personally told them she was pro-choice. I don’t know whether that’s accurate, but this is why we are doing our due diligence.”