"Anything less would be unacceptable. They only get one chance, they can't afford a mistake.....like Souter."
And Kennedy
Re Kennedy -- and BTW O'Connor, when Mark Levin was on a local radio talk show about his book, a caller asked why they so often shift to the left once they're in (I've read that Kennedy in particular was a reliable conservative when appointed), he said his observation was that judges (esp. USSC) who center their social life in Washington with the "beautiful people" (as Howie Carr would say) tend to shift. The ones who don't -- like Scalia and Thomas -- don't.