Democrats and allied advocacy groups expect President-elect Barack Obama to put a progressive stamp on the federal judiciary, saying it has veered too far right under President Bush.

After capturing the White House and strengthening their grip on Congress, Democrats will turn to the third branch of government — and the only one firmly under strong conservative influence.

“He will have a major impact on the federal judiciary,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who urged Obama to appoint judges who respect the Constitution and its values.

Cardin and other senators believe that Bush’s court appointments shifted too much power away from Congress.

“Bush’s appointments have sided on giving the executive branch more power,” said Cardin. “We should make sure that we have a balance on the federal bench that will show respect to the Constitution, including to its separation of powers.”

Kathryn Kolbert, president of People for the American Way, a group that has played a central role in past battles over court appointments, said: “The right wing has been very successful in stacking the courts with ideological appointments, people who vote their politics rather than the law.”

Kolbert and other advocates allied with the Democratic Party say it is time to begin reversing the rightward trend of the courts.

They believe Obama will make the judiciary a high priority because he taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), formerly chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Many activists are looking ahead to as many as three Supreme Court justices possibly retiring during Obama’s first term.

Justice John Paul Stevens, who is 88 years old, is viewed as a likely candidate, as are Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has battled health problems in recent years, and David Souter, who is rumored to want to return to his home state of New Hampshire.

“I think this election is a clear mandate for Obama to appoint judges who are committed to core constitutional values: justice, equality and opportunity for all,” said Kolbert, who wants Obama to appoint jurists in the mold of liberal visionaries such as the late Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan Jr.

Kolbert said these justices “understood the plight of the little guy” and said that replacing someone like Souter with another centrist would “still leave us with a very conservative court.”

But Manuel Miranda, chairman of the Third Branch Conference, a coalition of conservative activists who have weighed in on Supreme Court appointments, warned that judicial nominees similar to Marshall and Brennan would face strong opposition.

“Outside groups will always push to the extremes to get people who would be turning back the clock to Brennan or Marshall,” said Miranda. “Their sense that the Supreme Court should act like a super-legislature is caveman talk.”

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) name surfaced at the end of the Democratic primary as a possible nominee to the Supreme Court, but Clinton has since let it be known that she is not interested.

Sonia Sotomayor, a member of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, has also been discussed as a candidate. Some Democrats think she would make a good pick because she is Hispanic and there is growing consensus that the next addition to the Supreme Court should be a woman.