If you’ve been following coverage by our own Dave Facinoli, you’ll know that this past weekend brought a major upheaval in the Northern Virginia Swimming League’s top echelon.
The Tuckahoe squad defeated Chesterbrook in an all-McLean Division 1 clash. Chesterbrook, for those who don’t know the intricacies of local swimming, has long been the dominant team in the league, with Overlee also in the running.
But it’s been known since the start of the season that Tuckahoe has a solid squad, so the defeat of Chesterbrook wasn’t entirely out of the blue. But still, it’s a big deal.
This weekend brings a showdown between Tuckahoe and Overlee. If the Tuckahoe swimmers can win that one, they are guaranteed at least a tie for first place in Division 1 at season’s end, and likely will be in first all by themselves. And that might end up being the biggest youth-sports story of a busy youth-sports year.
IT’S A CURSE BEING RIGHT ALL THE TIME: Apparently being a charter member of the “Matlock” fan club does not entitle me to practice law in 49 of the 50 states (it might be acceptable in Mississippi), but as the pandemic took hold last year, I said to myself, “Self, how in the name of the good lord above can the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, by deep-state fiat, declare that landlords can’t evict any rental tenants, even if their non-payment or other shenanigans has nothing to do with the COVID?”
Turns out, all these months later, that was a good question. By a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court agreed with me, effectively backing a previous (but stayed) U.S. District Court judge’s ruling that the moratorium represented government overreach.
The news coverage of this a week or two ago was mostly focused on the fact that the court had decided to let the eviction-moratorium run through the end of July, so there would be an “orderly” return to normalcy. The three solid conservatives wanted the ruling implemented immediately, the three liberals thought the CDC had the power to impose such a sweeping measure, and the two wishy-washy middle-of-the-roaders, including the chief justice, as usual mumbled and bumbled.
But the fact remains: A solid majority of the Supreme Court found the CDC went beyond its powers. It was a better-late-than-never ruling, but a thankful one nonetheless. Because if the CDC could use its nebulous powers to do this during the recent pandemic, it can do just about anything the time the next health emergency rolls around. And that spells trouble.
- Scott McCaffrey