[T]the decertifiation of the NFLPA and the players’ core argument of this case: you can’t lock out non-union employees. There is stuff in the NFL’s response about a “sham decertification” (really a separate issue, though it is important background for the judges), the NFL’s primary response is different, and more technical. The argument is that, whatever the merits of this case — whoever is right or wrong — the Norris-LaGuardia Act says that federal courts simply cannot issue an injunction in this case. In other words, the NFL’s argument is that even if the players were right, a federal court cannot order the remedy they want. This sounds technical and boring, but it’s surprisingly interesting and there is an awful lot of history packed into the few words.
The key language in the Norris-LaGuardia Act prohibits federal courts from issuing injunctions “in a case involving or growing out of a labor dispute.” The Act defines a “labor dispute” to include “any controversy concerning terms or conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of employment.” That is broad language, and that is essentially the NFL’s argument: This case certainly “involves” or “grows out of” a “controversy concerning” the “negotiat[ion]” or “arrang[ment]” of “terms or conditions of employment”; the two sides were fighting about wages, salaries, and benefits — the way that giant economic pie called the NFL is divided — and so no injunction can issue. End of case.
