How will President Obama's judicial appointees affect the federal courts?

For answers, check out this podcast by the Federalist Society, moderated by Dean Reuter. Brett Shumate of Wiley Rein discusses the impact of the president’s nominees to the D.C. Circuit, while I tackle the issue with respect to the Ninth Circuit.  The consensus was that the president’s appointments will liberalize these courts’ jurisprudence, with more impact being observed in the D.C. Circuit because of its relatively smaller size and relatively more conservative baseline.