Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Quick Hits: Volume CCLXXIII

 - A major retirement announcement out of Washington, D.C. 


Justice Stephen Breyer will step down from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term, according to people familiar with his thinking.

Breyer is one of the three remaining liberal justices, and his decision to retire after more than 27 years on the court allows President Joe Biden to appoint a successor who could serve for decades and, in the short term, maintain the current 6-3 split between conservative and liberal justices.

At 83, Breyer is the court's oldest member. Liberal activists have urged him for months to retire while Democrats hold both the White House and the Senate — a position that could change after the midterm elections in November. They contended that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stayed too long despite her history of health problems and should have stepped down during the Obama administration.


For as long as I can remember, the first SCOTUS pick in a given presidential administration has pretty much sailed through.....that is until President Donald Trump assumed office and nominated Neil Gorsuch to the bench. The Dems filibustered Gorsuch's nomination, resulting in Republicans (even moderate ones) invoking the nuclear option, thus lowering the threshold from 60 Senators to 51 in order to end debate on a nominee. 


With that in mind, any pick President Biden would put forth (provided said pick is more of a mainstream nominee) will likely result in a smooth confirmation process given the Dems are the majority party in the U.S. Senate. And as Guy Benson notes, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has voted for every SCOTUS justice ever put forth by a Democrat President. As such, this should be an uneventful process......we hope.



- Almost a week ago, Rep. Nolan West (R-Blaine) was assaulted when attempting to join a publicly promoted event being held at a venue in the House District he represents. 





In a post on Facebook, Rep. West indicated he was asked to leave due to this organization's unwritten edict that "politicians are not allowed" (pretty sure Rep. Erik Mortensen would have had a path of palm leaves laid before him had he showed up). 


In what I believe is the right move, West is looking to press charges. 

 

“I’m sure this is going to be a big pain, but with the way politics is now, this is completely insane,” West said in an interview Monday. “You can’t lay hands on people. Come on.”


I'm no lawyer, but the fact this LaLonde character specifically targeted West because he's a politician will cause him some serious problems. 



- Upon completion of the 2021 NFL regular season, my favorite NFL squad did some serious housecleaning of their front office and coaching staff. The first major hire in the rebuild has finally occurred. 


The Minnesota Vikings are hiring Cleveland Browns vice president of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their new general manager, a source tells ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Schefter reports that Adofo-Mensah is getting a four-year deal to replace Rick Spielman, who was fired at the conclusion of the 2021 season after a 16-year stint as the Vikings' general manager that produced a 132-123-2 record.

Adofo-Mensah is the 10th person in franchise history to hold a general manager title and/or carry out the duties of the team's GM (current executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski was the top football executive from 2002 to 2005 without an official GM title). He comes to Minnesota after spending the 2020-21 seasons in Cleveland working under general manager Andrew Berry.


Typically any front office person (outside of the GM, who makes the major personnel decisions) is going to be an unknown commodity, so I have no idea if the Vikings got this hire right. All I can tell you is Adofo-Mensah is held in high regard by those willing to speak on the record. 




 


 


Vikings ownership has also interviewed several candidates for their head coaching position, but were going to wait on an official hire until they consult with their newly hired GM. Now that the first domino has fallen, there is even more rampant speculation as to who will be the Vikes' tenth head coach in the franchise's history (a list of who has been previously connected to Adofo-Mensah is here).  


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