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It has happened before.  I watched a video earlier (Viva Frei with attorney Robert Barnes) where it was mentioned that judicial history is not all that great an indicator of how a judge will rule upon gaining the Supreme Court (after all, one of the things a judge has to consider when at the district or appellate level is precedent and being overruled by a higher court, neither of which hold any weight once you get to the Supreme Court).  Barnes suggested that "life history," such as whether they grew up in "old money" etc., were much more reliable in predicting philosophy once on the Supreme Court, at least as far as previously "conservative" justices went (it seems to me that very few conservatives would suppress that tendency throughout a career of wildly liberal rulings, while the opposite appears to be more widespread).

Mike
ETA:  This is for new appointees - while a justice might shift their philosophy over a career on the Supreme Court, I wouldn't expect a sudden reversal (except for Roberts, who seems to flip a coin at times to decide which side of a case to come down on, and even contradict his own previous opinions).

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Kennedy could do that as the swing vote.  Without a swing his moderation efforts are not required to maintain the majority opinion.

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Roberts is terrified of making lasting decisions and loves being the 'swing' vote.

After the current vacancy is filled, 5-1-3 is more accurate.

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Aka cunt nugget who got his peepee slapped by biden in the debates