At that point, all of the judges will have been appointed by President Bush except for one judge picked by Democrat President Bill Clinton and one picked by President Bush's father, the first President Bush.

Switching to part-time service are Lewis Babcock of Denver and Walker Miller of Greeley.

Babcock is a native of Rocky Ford and was a state district court judge in Otero, Bent and Crowley counties from 1978 to 1983. Babcock was picked in 1988 for the court by former Republican President Ronald Reagan.

Miller was picked in 1996 by Clinton over Pueblo District Judge Dennis Maes, who wanted the job.

Judgeships on the U.S. District Court are coveted and prestigious. The judges, paid $161,000, are entitled to hold their jobs as long as they want.

Persons significantly involved in the matter say a deal between the president and the Senate is needed. A deal would make it more likely that nominees by the lame-duck president of one party will be confirmed by the Senate controlled by another party.

Otherwise, the court will be two judges short, creating a backlog of cases and slower-than-usual disposition of them.

If the two replacement judges are not confirmed before President Bush leaves office in January 2009, it is likely to be late in 2009, at the earliest, that the vacancies, which will occur early in 2008, would be filled.

Court veterans say a significant slow-down in handling cases, detrimental to persons with cases in the court, are likely if the court becomes two judges short.

The majority Senate Democrats, hoping their party's candidate will be elected president in November, could block confirmation of Bush's choices.

The state's two U.S. senators, Republican Wayne Allard and Democrat Ken Salazar, could play a key role in getting a deal to make it more likely that replacements will be in place promptly.

Allard's chief of staff, Sean Conway, said Friday that the senators met last month with Babcock, chief judge for the past seven years, and Edward Nottingham, who becomes chief judge on June 8 for a seven-year term, to discuss the need for promptly filling the expected vacancies.

Conway said the two senators plan to work together to try to get replacement judges in office as soon as possible "once the White House makes nominations based on our recommendations and with bipartisan support."

Conway said the two senators have "a very good working relationship," but have not yet decided on what process they will use to make recommendations to the president. In the past, senators have appointed bipartisan committees to offer suggested judgeship candidates to them before deciding whom to recommend to the president.

Salazar and his staff did not make themselves available for comment.

Bush in recent years picked Marcia Kreiger of suburban Denver, Robert Blackburn, who lived in Las Animas, and Phillip Figa of suburban Denver for the court. When those three were confirmed by the Senate it was controlled by Republicans and the president was not a lame-duck, so the potential was much less for political fighting over who would become judges.

Figa is seriously ill with a brain tumor, but has been working part time while undergoing extended treatment. He hopes to return to handling a fuller caseload when his health permits.

If he is unable to do that, his position could become open.

The first President Bush picked Nottingham, then of Grand Junction, in 1989. The other judge among the seven, Wiley Daniel of Denver, was picked in 1995 by Clinton.

In addition to the seven full-time judges, known in federal court parlance as "active" judges, the court now has three part-time judges, known as senior judges. There will be five part-time judges when Miller moves to that status in March and Babcock in April.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger submitted a capital punishment proposal Tuesday in an effort to persuade US District Judge Jeremy Fogel to lift a moratorium on executions in the state. The proposal includes the construction of a new execution chamber and a revised protocol on the procedure for lethal injections in the state. Speaking on the plan, Schwarzenegger said that he is "committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure that the lethal injection process is constitutional so the will of the people is upheld."

In December, Schwarzenegger ordered his administration to "correct court-identified deficiencies in California's lethal injection protocol to ensure the death penalty procedure is constitutional" after a federal court issued a memorandum of intended decision concluding that California's lethal injection  procedure creates "an undue and unnecessary risk" of cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution. The memorandum came after the execution of Michael Morales was postponed indefinitely in February 2006 when a court ruling held that medical professionals must monitor executions by lethal injection to be sure that the inmate feels no pain. The ruling imposed a virtual moratorium on executions in California as anesthesiologists refused to take part in the execution.

The state argues that Connecticut's 2005 civil unions law gives the couples the equality they seek under state law.

The state Supreme Court began hearing the case Monday and was expected to issue a decision later in the year.

Attorneys on both sides say a ruling in the couples' favor could have nationwide implications for states that have adopted or are considering civil union-like legislation.

Currently, only Massachusetts allows same-sex couples to marry. Connecticut, Vermont, California, New Jersey, Maine and Washington have laws allowing either civil unions or domestic partnerships. Hawaii extends certain spousal rights to same-sex couples and cohabiting heterosexual pairs.

Anne Stanback, president of the group Love Makes a Family, and a handful of gay marriage supporters, were among the first to arrive at the Supreme Court on Monday morning. She and her partner of 23 years have not had a civil union because they are waiting for full marriage rights.

"We wanted to make sure we were part of the history," Stanback said.

The hearing also drew gay marriage opponents, including members of the Family Institute of Connecticut.

"We hope the court will realize that something this radical should be left to the people, that something this disruptive, divisive and controversial should be left to the people to decide and not handed down from above," said Peter Wolfgang, the group's director of public policy.

The Connecticut couples, who have been together between 10 and 32 years, say civil unions are inferior to marriage and violate their rights to equal protection and due process.

Married couples have federal rights related to taxes, Social Security beneficiary rules, veterans' benefits and other laws that people in civil unions don't have.

Because civil unions aren't recognized nationwide, other rights, such as the ability to make medical decisions for an incapacitated partner, disappear when couples cross state lines.

The Connecticut couples' claim was dismissed by a lower court last year when a judge said they received the equality they sought when Connecticut passed a same-sex civil unions law. The couples appealed.

The state Department of Public Health and the Madison town clerk's office were named as defendants in the case after denying marriage licenses to the couples based on state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's advice.

"Our basic argument is, the trial court correctly recognized that there is a rational basis for the state to use a different name for the same rights and benefits accorded same-sex couples," Blumenthal said. "The rights and benefits are identical, whether the union is called a civil union or a marriage."

A bill is pending in Connecticut's legislature to approve same-sex marriage, but leaders of the Judiciary Committee say they want to pull it from consideration this session because they do not believe enough lawmakers would vote to approve it.

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who signed the civil unions bill into law in 2005, has said she would veto a gay marriage bill. Rell has said she believes marriage is between one man and one woman.

In issuing a veto threat, the White House said it opposed a bill that treats crime victims differently from others, saying, "The administration believes that all violent crimes are unacceptable, regardless of the victims, and should be punished firmly." The White House, which called the legislation unnecessary, said the bill also raised constitutional concerns.

While the bill has broad bi-partisan support, it still may not have enough votes to override a veto from the executive branch. However, the legislation has earned the endorsement of a variety of groups, including most LGBT civil rights groups, and more than 210 law enforcement, civil rights, civic and religious organizations, such as the National Sheriffs' Association, International Association of Chiefs of Police, U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association.

Dina Habib Powell, a senior aide to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, resigned Wednesday to join a Wall Street investment bank, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.

Powell, 33, was assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs and deputy to Underscretary of State Karen P. Hughes before her resignation.

Powell said she resigned for personal reason.

She is one of the youngest senior State Department diplomats, and a key architect of a Rice initiative to improve the United States' image abroad.

Powell, who emigrated from Egypt to Texas with her parents, is the highest-ranking Arab American in the Bush administration.

Days before Powell's resignation, Barry Lowenkron, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, resigned to join a private charitable foundation. In addition, one of Rice's two deputies, foreign aid director Randall Tobias also quit due to involvement of sex scandal. ?

Spitzer reportedly seeks to fulfill a campaign promise he made last October in his run for governor to support a gay marriage bill. In response, State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R) announced that he still opposed recognizing same-sex marriage, and suggested that in the wake of the recent killing of a New York state trooper Spitzer should put more priority on reintroducing the death penalty for criminals who kill police officers.

Spitzer has admitted that his bill is unlikely to receive support from state lawmakers. Gay marriage advocates nonetheless applauded the bill as a step forward. "Today is a watershed moment in our community's struggle to win the freedom to marry," said Alan Van Capelle, executive director of gay rights group Empire State Pride Agenda.

But he made clear that if Democrats insist on including timetables again, he will not hesitate to bring out his veto pen.

"If they want to try again that which I've said is unacceptable, of course I won't accept it,'' the president said during a news conference here with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "I hope it won't come to that.''