I'm guessing that Reagan at least probably recognized he got played by Sandra Day O'Conner, plus Reagan had both a demoRAT House & especially a demoRAT Senate to deal with in making his SCOTUS nominee selection
Dumb ass doofus, head up his ass GW Bush OTOH, had both a Repub House & Repub Senate for 6 of his 8 years, and still couldn't make a right decision 99% of the time. GW Bush was and probably still is proud of his selection of John Roberts as another sellout of American's values & freedoms. Dumb ass doofus, GW Bush, the RAT bastard gift that just keeps on giving. He & 0dumb0 are neck & neck for worst president of the U.S. as far as I'm concerned.
Remember too, that Reagan placed a great deal of weight on the opinion of ‘Mr Conservative’ himself, the late Senator Barry Goldwater, who vouched for O’Connor and assured Reagan of her solid conservative instincts. Looks like O’Connor played him too.