Eisenhower’s first nominee was Chief Justice Earl Warren –- architect of modern liberal jurisprudence. Nixon’s picks, like Nixon himself, frequently got entangled in scandal. But his first successful associate justice nominee was Harry Blackmun, who was certainly no conservative. Ford gave us one justice: John Paul Stevens –- one of the four members of the court’s liberal wing. Reagan’s first justice was Sandra Day O’Connor, whose nomination sent conservatives into a conclave contemplating, ironically, a filibuster. And George H. W. Bush? His first nominee was David Souter, who, with Stevens, forms half of the court’s current liberal wing.