President Bush has nominated Gus Puryear, the general counsel of Corrections Corp. of America (CCA), to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Tennessee. Puryear's nomination is subject to Senate confirmation. Puryear plans to continue to serve as GC at CCA, an operator of private prisons, until his confirmation.

Puryear has deep roots in the Republican Party. In 1997 the graduate of the University of North Carolina law school worked on Sen. Fred Thompson's investigation of alleged fundraising abuses by the Clinton White House and DNC. One of the people Puryear deposed during the investigation was Terry McAuliffe, who headed up President Clinton's fundraising campaign during the 1996 election. After the investigation, Puryear served as Sen. Bill Frist's legislative director until 2000. During that period he took a short sabbatical to help prepare Vice President Dick Cheney for his debate with Sen. Joe Liberman during the presidential campaign in 2000.

"It was an honor to help him," said Puryear during an interview with InsideCounsel in 2004. "Like Senator Frist, Cheney is a brilliant man. In fact, there wasn't a lot of work that had to be done to prepare Cheney because he has had such a rich life experience and knows so much about the issues."

Puryear joined Tennessee-based CCA in December 2000, where he reports to John Ferguson, the company's CEO.

"It is a great honor for Gus to be nominated by the president to serve as a federal district judge," Ferguson said in a statement. "Gus is a talented lawyer, and we are proud of his willingness to undertake public service. We are fortunate not only that Gus has built a strong legal team at CCA, but also that his continued service with the company during the confirmation process will afford us ample time to identify a successor."