More than 20 NFL players were present in the courtroom Friday morning as the
8th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments about whether the nearly 12-week-old
lockout should be lifted. “We are staying together,” Vikings DE
Brian Robison said after the hearing in explaining the number
of players present. Of course, the league is arguing evidence like that showing
of support is an example that the union has not really decertified. “The
union will be back,” NFL attorney Paul Clement told reporters
after the hearing.
That issue was roundly debated before the 8th Circuit’s three-judge panel.
A lower court ruled because there is no union (the players decertified on March
11), a lockout is an antitrust violation. The 8th Circuit stayed that ruling,
and many of the questions Friday from the three judges focused on whether there
needs to be a time space between a decertification and the filing of an antitrust
lawsuit. Clement, in response to questions from the judges about how long the
players should have to wait before receiving antitrust protections, contended
it should be at least one business cycle, and for the lockout, at least a year.
Judge Steven Colloton, who sided with the NFL in the stay,
asked players’ attorney Ted Olson a hypothetical
question: If non-unionized employees staged a walkout, would they be protected
by labor laws? Olson replied they might, to which Colloton quickly replied that
likely means the lower court’s decision is wrong.
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