However, with long life spans, these people can sit on the bench for a very long time. Not necessarily bad.

Yet there seems to me that there is too little political process check on the judicial appointments. After all, a lame-duck president can appoint away without any fear of political fall out.

To make the process checked by the political process I suggest that when there is a judicial vacancy, allow the sitting president to appoint a justice. If the nominee passes senate confirmation, allow the justice to server probationaly. During the next presidential term, the president may remove the probation. Thus, if a first-term president makes an appointment and he is re-elected, he can confirm his own nominee. If, however, the public is unhappy with the first-term president's nominations, they can vote him out of office and his rival can remove any justices that are still in their probation phase.