This why Republicans continue to be disappointed with their nominees. A judicial activist that leans toward conservative causes is a very unreliable vote and not a person you want on the court. Judicial activists of any flavor are unstable and unreliable.
What you want is someone that has a track record of basing judicial decisions on sound judicial philosophy. It doesn't matter if the ruling went against a conventional conservative position if was based on what the law actually said and on originalist philosophy.
A good definition of stupid is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. The republicans have been very stupid with their nominations - they have been lucky with a very small number but more often than not, they make bad decisions.
It is a political court. It is an oligarch that Jefferson feared. The cat is out of the bag, and there is no putting it back (without a few constitutional ammendments). The court is about counting votes. That's all it is. If our president has nominated 2 people that will vote with Thomas and Scalia.... then we'll be fine.