In 1888, he was appointed as Sumitsu komonkan (Privy Councilor) who would argue about the draft of the constitution in Sumitsu-in (Privy Council) founded to consider the Constitution of the Empire of Japan, and disputed as Chusei-ha (the sect aiming at the direct rule by the Emperor) against Hirobumi ITO and others who attempted to restrict the monarch's power in order to establish the constitutional monarchy.
明治21年（1888年）には大日本帝国憲法審議のために設けられた枢密院(日本)で憲法草案を議する枢密顧問官に任命され、中正派（天皇親政派）として立憲君主制確立のため君権を制限しようとする伊藤博文らと論争した。