i think even better is shrub's guarantee to the nation that his litmus test for a supreme court justice is one who would not have voted in favor of the supreme's 1857 Dred Scott decision.
the irony, if i understand the decision correctly, is that the dred scott decision is the prototypical example of strict constructionism, which shrub claims to favor. as head supreme, roger taney, said the framers of the Constitution believed that blacks "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit." and etc, adding injury to injury.
the court also declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. i can hear shrub's handlers before the debate telling shrub to "work in mention of the Dred Scott decision if you can: the debate's in Missouri."
there's no disputing the era of the dred scott decision is about where the shrub group is hoping to put the USA. they'll settle for the latter 19th century, of course.
R