judges are bound to follow supreme court precedent and while they can veer considerably to the right or the left, and you can tell a lot from that, it still is -- you're still reading tea leaves. the tea leaves amount to a lot, though, and you -- you know, republican white houses starting with reagan have taught us all that you can really pick somebody who will not provide a huge surprise. on the occasions when there have been surprises, the principal one being david suitor who is george h.w. bush's pick, he was a surprise, but they also had a confirmation problem so he was probably a wise choice for them at the time and they were assuring the right it will be fine. well, he was far more centrist or liberal, if you want, and they were furious. >> so the tea leaf reading begins in earnest tomorrow. >> yeah, the tea leaf reading begins -- it's already begun at