One needed quick fix: a new USSC Commissioner

Though the move of US Sentencing Commissioner Michael O’Neill from the USSC to the Hill to become Counsel for the US Senate’s Judiciary Committee is old news (I first reported it here), it is interesting to see that the USSC has just posted on its website O’Neill’s official resignation letter.  It is also still fun to speculate on the role O’Neill may be playing in his new job as the Senate contemplates hearings and a possible legislative response to Booker. (I am inclined to believe that O’Neill had a hand in encouraging Judiciary Committee Chair Arlen Specter to take the “let Booker percolate a while” approach reflected in comments reported here.)

Meanwhile, since O’Neill’s departure means the USSC will be one Commissioner short at a crucial time, this development does present an opportunity for one important quick fix in the wake of Booker.  The President ought to expeditiously name, and the Senate ought to expeditiously confirm, a replacement for O’Neill so that the USSC can be working again at full force ASAP.