Lesse…
O'Connor quits on July 1, 2005.
The US Senate recesses from July 2, 2005 until July 11, 2005.
Now, if I was a member of the Evil Party and had just the ideal candidate to replace her (Pol Pot and Tomas de Torqemada are, alas, dead, but I believe that Roy Moore is looking for a job), I'd use the handy mechanism of a "recess appointment" to wedge this candidate into the USSC right now, because it would piss off any Stupid Party senators who hadn't already turned coat. And it would detract attention from the full-bore disaster that the Coward in Chief's splendid little land war in Asia has become.
It's not as if any of the Evil Party sheep in the Senate would do anything about it, and it's painfully obvious that there aren't enough Stupid Party senators who would be willing to filibuster the US government to a complete standstill over it, so it's a win-win situation for all the evil people!