Interesting US Sentencing Commission transition

I have heard tonight that Senator Arlen Specter, new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has picked US Sentencing Commissioner Michael O’Neill to be the Senate Judiciary Committee’s next chief counsel.  O’Neill is a former committee staffer and he currently is a law professor at George Mason (which has this announcement about O’Neill’s appointment).

The Legal Times has this quote from O’Neill about his new position: “Part of the reason I took this job is that I anticipate being able to do oversight on the DOJ, and the possibility of working on Supreme Court nominations.”  He also said, “It’s such an historic time to be on the committee.”  Of course, it is also an historic time to be involved with the US Sentencing Commission, but it looks like that body will be one Commissioner short until the President names a replacement for O’Neill.