Even as a high school student in the late 1970s in the fairly conservative state of Iowa, my teachers (plural!) held up the Dred Scott decision as one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. judicial history.

I remember our high football coach, who was also my 11th grade history teacher, teaching that Dred Scott was an example of how democracy can go off the rails, and that we should could, if we wished, take Thomas Jefferson's words to heart — meaning that we could understand that having democracy is not the same as keeping it.

And let me tell you, this guy wasn't just a football coach and history teacher. He was a local Republican Party official, a chairman of something or another, and a real community leader.

I don't know if he's still living, given he'd be late 80s or 90s now, but if he is, I'd venture to say he'd be horrified that serious Republicans are holding up Dred Scott as a precedent we should be honoring.

How far the GOP has fallen!