Eminent Domain

President Bush has the opportunity to nominate quite a few judges to various positions on the federal courts. You can scope out the vacancies here. The appeals courts are exceptionally important because of their nature as well as their role as a proving ground for Supreme Court nominees. A well staffed appellate bench gives future presidents an ample list to choose from when vacancies occur on the Court.

If I were advising the president, I would urge him to nominate the following people either now or before the end of his term: Paul Clement, Viet Dinh, Maureen Mahoney, Miguel Estrada, Ronald Rotunda, Eugene Volokh, Caleb Nelson, Raoul Cantero, and Christopher Cox. That's not an exhaustive list, just the people that came to mind at the moment. Of course, they might not want the job, but it's worth asking.