Richard Nixon was seen talking to portraits of past presidents at the depth of Watergate.

Other presidents have sensed the spirits of long-dead predecessors lurking in the corridors of the White House. But today, as President Obama ponders his first Supreme Court appointment, those portraits and ghosts might be trying to warn him to avoid their mistakes, lest he be haunted as they were by justices gone awry.

No presidential appointment is more important or has more lasting impact on the nation.

And no other appointment has caused more regret.

The examples of justices who surprise and disappoint their presidents are well known and likely to be cited often in coming days. But many people will draw the wrong lessons from the retelling and believe that history is filled with tales of justices who suddenly change their ideologies once they don the robes. That is not what has happened.

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