Former state Supreme Court Justice Robert G. Flanders Jr. finds himself in an uncomfortable place these days: limbo.

In March, U.S. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee announced he was recommending Flanders for a seat on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Boston, because that court's only Rhode Islander, Judge Bruce M. Selya, is planning to curtail his caseload and assume senior status by year's end.

But eight months later, the White House has yet to nominate Flanders, much less secure Senate confirmation, and now the Republican Chafee is a lame duck, having lost the Nov. 7 election to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse.

"It's a limbo state, and obviously not a comfortable one to be in," Flanders said last week. "I'm hopeful, but obviously it's an uncertain situation at best. The changed circumstances here make it difficult for anyone to predict how this will turn out."

The election results also raise the question of whether Chafee will have any role in filling a seat on the U.S. District Court in Providence now that Chief Judge Ernest C. Torres is set to assume senior status on Dec. 1. Torres announced his plans in March, but Chafee has yet to recommend a successor. And now Chafee will be in office for only six more weeks.

Chafee spokesman Stephen Hourahan said it's still possible the White House will nominate Flanders before the end of next month, and he said the senator is "actively engaged" in looking to fill the U.S. District Court seat that Torres is vacating.

But Hourahan said it was too soon to say how judicial nominations will be affected by the defeat of Chafee and other Republican senators. "That's what we are working on now," he said.

Hourahan said Flanders' eight-month wait is not unusual. He noted the Senate has faced some high-profile and controversial judicial nominations in recent years, and he said background and security checks can take as long as nine months. "These things take time," he said.

Hourahan said it was his understanding that in addition to Flanders, the White House had also interviewed U.S. District Judge William E. Smith and state Supreme Court Justice Paul A. Suttell for the vacancy on the 1st Circuit.

But he said there's no indication the White House disapproved of Flanders as a nominee. "The way we understood it is: They like to have more than one option," Hourahan said. "They want to cover their bases. They don't want it to look like a slam dunk."

Hourahan said it's unclear what Flanders' fate would be next year, when the Senate will be controlled by Democrats. "We don't know if it's going to go out the window or not with Democratic control of the [Senate] Judiciary Committee," he said.

Hourahan said that next year the White House would look for input on judicial nominations from the highest-ranking Republican remaining in Rhode Island -- meaning Governor Carcieri. But he noted senators have the ability to block or "blue-slip" nominees from their home states, so the administration would probably look for input from Democratic Sen. Jack Reed and Senator-elect Whitehouse.

As for the District Court vacancy, Hourahan said Chafee did not recommend anyone before Election Day because he was "totally occupied" with the campaign, which included a bruising GOP primary against Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey.

Hourahan said Chafee will interview possible candidates for the District Court seat, but he declined to identify those people.

In an interview, Reed said he was disappointed that President Bush has not sent Flanders' nomination to the Senate. He said Flanders was not considered a controversial pick.

"I supported Bob," Reed said. "I think he is an excellent lawyer. He has experience and judicial temperament and he was a member of our Supreme Court. I was certainly prepared to support Bob."

But Reed noted the Senate is not going to be in session for much longer this year, and he said, "If it hasn't been done at this point, the chances seem to be dwindling."

Reed said he hopes the White House will collaborate with the Democratic Senate majority on a range of issues, including judicial nominations. "The people have spoken," he said. "I don't think they want to see the president picking fights on nominees. They want to see him get something done."

Specifically, Reed said he hopes the White House consults with him and Whitehouse if the two judgeships remain vacant. He said it was appropriate for the White House to consult with Chafee as the Republican senator from Rhode Island, but in 2007, he noted, the state will be represented by two Democratic senators. "Next year, my hope is the president will cooperate and communicate and recognize we have a constitutional obligation as a Senate and we will exercise that role," he said.

The New York Times has reported that Republicans and Democrats see no chance of confirming the four most conservative of Mr. Bush's nominees for the federal appeals court before year's end. Those four include William J. Haynes II, the Pentagon's chief lawyer, who was responsible for much-criticized military interrogation policies. And Reed noted that Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, has said he hopes to move forward on other Bush nominees who are less controversial than those four.

Whitehouse, who will be assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee, could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Erwin Chemerinsky, a professor of law and political science at Duke University, said that traditionally the White House is more involved in picking federal appellate court judges than it is in choosing U.S. District Court judges. He said the White House counsel's office might listen to the recommendation of home-state senators, but how much they listen often depends upon the senator.

Chafee is a moderate Republican who differed with the Bush administration on key issues. He was the only Republican senator to vote against going to war in Iraq, and in 2000 he didn't even vote for Mr. Bush; he wrote in the name of Mr. Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush.

And now that Chafee has lost the election, Chemerinsky said, "there is nothing that he can do for the Bush administration over the next six weeks."

The professor said he thinks it's unlikely Flanders will be nominated and confirmed within six weeks. And while the White House gives greater deference to senators for District Court vacancies, he said it's unlikely Chafee can put a candidate in place within six weeks.

So what will happen next year, with a Republican president and a Democratic Senate? Chemerinsky said, "I think it would be in everybody's interest to compromise and for the White House to pick consensus nominees." But whether that happens remains to be seen, he said.

"If President Bush wants to pick hard-right conservatives, I don't think they are going to getting through in the next two years," Chemerinsky said. "But if he wants to pick moderate Republicans, I think they will get through."

In the meantime, Flanders continues to work at Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, the Providence law firm he joined after eight years on the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

Flanders said it's not unusual for a judicial nomination process to take a long time, and he said one factor might be that there is no vacancy yet for the 1st Circuit seat. Selya told Mr. Bush he planned to assume senior status when his successor is appointed or by Dec. 31.

Flanders noted Reed supported him when he was recommended by Chafee. And he said, "Sheldon Whitehouse and I go back a long way." Whitehouse was legal counsel to former Gov. Bruce Sundlun, a Democrat, and Flanders represented Sundlun in government and personal matters. For example, Sundlun hired Flanders to work out a paternity settlement with Kara Hewes, Sundlun's out-of-wedlock child from a liaison in the early 1970s, and Flanders represented Sundlun after the governor was charged with shooting raccoons at his Newport estate.

So what will end up happening? "I really don't know," Flanders said. "You throw into the mix the change of Senate leadership and the fact that Senator Chaffee will no longer be a senator, and I have no idea."

Flanders said many people have assumed he was a lock for the 1st Circuit judgeship. "People on the street think it's a fait accompli," he said.

But, Flanders said, "It's knocked into a cocked hat by all these circumstances."