WASHINGTON — A decade ago, as President George W. Bush was about to appoint a Supreme Court justice, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page pleaded with him to choose a reliable conservative. Republican presidents had made too many mistakes, it said, in appointing justices who turned out to be liberals.

“No More Souters,” the headline read, referring to Justice David H. Souter, who was appointed by the elder President George Bush in 1990 but soon started voting with the court’s liberal wing. The editorial listed other Republican appointees who had disappointed conservatives: Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justices William J. Brennan Jr., Harry A. Blackmun, John Paul Stevens and Anthony M. Kennedy.

“This is the history — which many view as political betrayal — that Mr. Bush has to confront as he makes his choice,” the editorial said.

Mr. Bush’s choice, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., delighted the right. But now, 10 years later, some conservatives seem to be suffering from a belated and somewhat puzzling case of buyer’s remorse.