Bush Team Hoping For One More Supreme Pick Before End Of Term

The White House is still holding out hope that it will have a chance to name a third justice to the Supreme Court and cement its conservative tilt for generations to come.

"We need one more on the Supreme Court," says a Bushie who was instrumental in getting Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito aboard. But with Democrats now running the Senate, pushing another conservative through might be hard. "That will be the battle royal, " says the insider. Meantime, the White House is seeking to add 17 more U.S. Circuit Court judges before leaving town in 2009. "This is our biggest legacy," says the official. And rightly so: Almost 30 percent of federal judges are Bush picks, he says.

By Paul Bedard