Good morning. Mondays seem to get harder as the daylight gets shorter.
This is getting repetitive, but the U.S. House will try again this week to elect a speaker and enable the business of Congress to proceed. Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan is the latest Republican to try to assemble a winning bloc. He might need 217 votes to pull it off, depending on how many representatives vote. He’s got at least two Minnesota votes. First District Rep. Brad Finstad, who issued a statement Friday, said: “It is long past time for our Conference to move past our differences as individuals and get back to governing.” The vote is tentatively set for Tuesday. Seventh District Rep. Michelle Fischbach voiced her support in a social media post. Sixth District Rep. Tom Emmer, the House GOP whip, reposted another member’s post on X backing Jordan. No word yet from 8th District Rep. Pete Stauber. Democrats in the delegation oppose a Jordan speakership.
We’re also waiting on a will-he-or-won’t-he decision by Rep. Dean Phillips, a Minnesota Democrat mulling a presidential run. Phillips has said he’ll announce his intentions by the end of the month, cognizant of filing deadlines ahead of Democratic primaries, if he’s to challenge incumbent President Joe Biden. Politico reports that Phillips is making calls to Democratic officials in New Hampshire.
The Minnesota Supreme Court says Donald Trump’s campaign isn’t a direct party to the lawsuit seeking to bar him from Minnesota ballots in 2024. In an order Friday, the court said the Trump campaign failed to take the steps needed to be a proper intervenor in the case. It said Trump can still participate through friend-of-the-court briefs. The Star Tribune’s Rochelle Olson is on that ruling and what’s ahead.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett speaks at the University of Minnesota tonight. Protests are expected, reports MPR’s Ellie Roth. The lecture series the conservative Barrett will be part of alternates between hosting more left leaning and more right leaning judges. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the first Supreme Court Justice to attend the Stein Lecture in 2014. All seats inside Northrop Auditorium have been reserved.
The remake of Minnesota’s flag is a project due by the end of this year. The task force given the assignment is still seeking public input. MPR’s Alex V. Cipolle caught up with State Emblems Redesign Commission Chair Luis Fitch about a corresponding art exhibit around the flag.
Throughout my time as a Capitol reporter, I’ve made it a point to tune in to the Board of Pardons whenever possible. The board usually meets twice per year and the list of applicants is long — 800 pardons were granted between 1983 and 2022. Those making the decisions are the governor, attorney general and chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. The raw emotion and moments of contrition spill out as pardon seekers plead for a clean slate. The New York Times took in this summer’s hearing and published a lengthy story over the weekend on what went on inside the room and around the lives of many involved. The next Board of Pardons meeting is set for mid-December, when new Chief Justice Natalie Hudson takes her spot on the panel.
Minnesota’s budget reserve needs a wee bit more money, according to the state finance agency. The target is just shy of 5 percent of the overall general fund budget. At the end of last session, the rainy day account was about $21 million shy of that mark. But the $2.852 billion socked away is the most on record. Expect the November budget forecast to top it off because, by law , the reserve gets the first bite of any projected surplus.
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