In other times, Gov. J.B. Pritzker might have batted away my question as a contrived provocation.

But the Illinois Democrat was far from dismissive last week when I asked him whether he could imagine a scenario where a federal judge issued a ruling so wildly wrongheaded that Pritzker would decline to enforce it in his state.

“That’s not something that I anticipate having to do and that’s not something I would want to do,” Pritzker said. “I believe in the rule of the law and I believe in our Constitution.”

He added a note of grim realism: “And I know there are misinterpretations of our Constitution. We’ve all lived with that.”

It was a calibrated answer, indicating distaste for my hypothetical without completely ruling it out. And at this point, how could he — or any Democratic governor — foreclose the possibility that a rogue judge might precipitate that kind of clash?

Pritzker, 58, made plain in our conversation that he is not looking for war with the federal judiciary. Yet in many respects war […]