Bush Leaves Many Judicial Vacancies

One thing I've never quite understood about the Bush administration is why, when they have this zeal to fill the judiciary with true-believer neo-con authoritatian judges, do they leave so many judicial vacancies. I'm not talking about vacancies left open due to a lack of confirmation - I'm talking about where they haven't even bothered to put up a name for consideration.

You'd think they'd have every available slot filled in with at least a nominee, hoping that at least some of them get through. But they don't - they just leave them empty, and I wonder why.

This article discusses it in a specific case, but it still doesn't suggest the reason for the phenomenon. The article mentions something known for a long time - that Bush circumvents the usual process and ignores what Senators say - which is certainly not a good way to start when it is Senators who decide if a nominee actually gets the job.

But why leave these positions open? The optimist in me says that there are so few truly neo-con authoritatians out there who would be qualified that they simply don't have enough names to offer. But given the nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, actual qualifications don't seem to be a sticking point for his nominees. So why leave all these vacancies? To slow down the caseload? What is the point of doing that? Maybe to stall cases in the courts regarding civil rights violations (like at Gitmo and elsewhere)? I could see them doing that, but wouldn't it be better to have those cases decided by good loyal Bush appointees? Except that judges keep annoyingly following the actual law and handing Bush losses in court. So come to think of it, perhaps it is better to slow things down.

Anyone else have any better ideas? Preferrably with evidence to back them up, rather than just wild speculation (like I'm doing here). This really puzzles me.