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Sherman Antitrust Act – Immunity

By: Derek Hawkins//September 16, 2021//

Sherman Antitrust Act – Immunity

By: Derek Hawkins//September 16, 2021//

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United States Supreme Court

Case Name: National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Shawne Alston, et al.,

Case No.: 20-512; 20-520

Focus: Sherman Antitrust Act – Immunity

In the Sherman Act, Congress tasked courts with enforcing a policy of competition on the belief that market forces “yield the best allocation” of the Nation’s resources. National Collegiate Athletic Assn. v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Okla., 468 U. S. 85, 104, n. 27 (1984). The plaintiffs before us brought this lawsuit alleging that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and certain of its member institutions violated this policy by agreeing to restrict the compensation colleges and universities may offer the student-athletes who play for their teams. After amassing a vast record and conducting an exhaustive trial, the district court issued a 50-page opinion that cut both ways. The court refused to disturb the NCAA’s rules limiting undergraduate athletic scholarships and other compensation related to athletic performance. At the same time, the court struck down NCAA rules limiting the education-related benefits schools may offer student-athletes—such as rules that prohibit schools from offering graduate or vocational school scholarships. Before us, the student-athletes do not challenge the district court’s judgment. But the NCAA does. In essence, it seeks immunity from the normal operation of the antitrust laws and argues, in any event, that the district court should have approved all of its existing restraints. We took this case to consider those objections.

Affirmed

Dissenting:

Concurring: KAVANAUGH, J., filed a concurring opinion.

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Derek A Hawkins is Corporate Counsel, at Salesforce.

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