The Maurice Clarett v. NFL case went to the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday as Clarett’s attorneys filed a motion requesting that SCOTUS stay the Second Circuit’s Monday ruling that barred Clarett from being eligible for this weekend’s NFL Draft.
Although I believe that Clarett’s position in this case is the correct one, my sense is that this motion to SCOTUS does not have much of a chance. The Second Circuit’s order barring Clarett from the draft was premised on the notion that the NFL had agreed to conduct a supplemental draft before the 2004 NFL season for Clarett and other underclassmen if the NFL lost on the merits of its appeal to the Second Circuit. Accordingly, the Second Circuit reasoned that there was little damage to Clarett by barring him from this weekend’s draft while the Second Circuit considered the NFL’s appeal on the merits. I suspect that Justice Ginsburg, who drew Clarett’s motion to SCOTUS, will likely have a similar view, although the inherent weakness of the NFL’s underlying case might persuade her that the NFL has no reasonable likelihood of success on the merits of its appeal, in which case she could justify staying the Second Circuit’s order barring Clarett from the draft.