WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court sits at about a 5-4 split right now, tilted slightly to the right with four justices considered very conservative, two very liberal, two fairly liberal and one (Anthony Kennedy) sitting just to the right side of the center line.

Not to be morbid, but it's a lifetime job and four of the nine justices at or over age 72 (the oldest being 78). So with that said, and considering that the option to retire early with a president of your party there to appoint a replacement, it's not impossible to think that the winner of the 2012 presidential election will have a considerable say over the future direction of the Court.

President Obama's preferences in a jurist are somewhat well known, given that he's already appointed two: Sonia Sotomayor, now the most vocal on the left of the Court and the frequent foil for the strict constructionist Antonin Scalia; and Elena Kagan, who is somewhat quieter and slightly less left-of-center.

But what of the two Minnesotans running for president?

Tim Pawlenty has said he'll support appointing "strict constructionists" to the Court, and when pressed, a spokesman pointed to Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts as examples of the sorts of jurists Pawlenty would nominate. Pawlenty's camp noted that the last justice he appointed to the state Supreme Court, David Stras, once clerked for Clarence Thomas.

He gave some more details as he launched his campaign in Iowa. From our Jay Weiner's report then:

On judges and his Minnesota record: "I appointed new conservative justices to the state Supreme Court. They understand that judges are supposed to rule according to the language of the law, not the preferences of their party. You know something about that here in Iowa."

That latter line was a reference to three Iowa state judges who upheld a law that allowed gay marriage. Recalls last year unseated all three.

A Bachmann spokeswoman didn't respond by press time, but her record and rhetoric indicate that her ideal justices are much the same.

When setting up a class on constitutional law for members of Congress, turned first to Scalia, the leader of the Court's right flank. In a release touting his coming speech, Bachmann said the jurist had “distinguished himself by his ‘originalist’ approach to constitutional interpretation.”