Colorado Springs evangelist James Dobson of Focus on the Family wasted no time in getting his views known on the retirement of Justice O’Connor and what he expects of President Bush. Today he issued this press release:

“Today marks a watershed moment in American history: the resignation of a swing-vote justice on the Supreme Court and the opportunity to change the Court’s direction. The rulings by the Court this June, particularly the schizophrenic decisions on the 10 Commandments cases, have once again demonstrated the desperate need for justices who will interpret the Constitution as it was written, not as the latest fads of legal theorists dictate.

“President Bush must nominate someone whose judicial philosophy is crystal clear. And no one has been clearer about this than the President himself, who said during his campaign that he would appoint justices in the mold of Clarence Thomas or Antonin Scalia. We have full confidence that he will carry out that pledge.”

Is this the first missile of the judicial war that’s coming?