Whats at stake is all our rights within work place.

[goz421]

There is a bigger issue at hand. Arbitration is put forth the clear the courts, but in the process puts legal rights within dishonest self serving interest. As Mark Cuban said the NFL own greed is taking it down. Due process has been violated in service of greedy owners who seek NFL parity. We are no longer getting an honest product if this is let to happen.


The Federal courts must step up to ensure Constitutional rights. Even if a precedent is set. If not they begin a process that will undermine the whole court system.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

They'd have to care and determine that Brady is completely innocent of the charges (or not enough evidence to get the case heard). i don't think our political leaders are going to take their time to look that deeply into it. could follow up with more, but it would get too political.

 

[JJC]

Don't underestimate the lure of being the politician who broke the NFL's anti-trust exemption. They've tried before and If Berman decides for the NFL, they will again.

I know we CT residents get lumped in with NYers more than occasionally by our brothers to the north and east, but our Sen. Blumenthal is making noise on this topic.

 

[Ivan]

Not to rain on your parade but anyone who thinks workers actually have rights is not currently living in the USA.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

This has nothing to do with the Constitution or the anti-trust exemption. It's a contract dispute.

I get people are mad, But Brady can quit his job if he's getting screwed, or go through the courts. Putting government bureaucrats in positions of power as protectionist thugs is worse. When the government screws you, you can't quit, and you have little recourse, and the fees to fight cost more than most people have. And the government screws people all the time, in ways that would make Goodell blush.

People have had their homes, cars, and businesses taken away without even having charges filed under civil asset forfeiture laws (one example https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/cox_v._voyle_et._al.-_stamped_complaint.pdf). The injustice Brady is facing is nothing compared to how the government screws people everyday. That includes in Connecticut where Blumenthal is grandstanding about justice. And when that happens all you can do is appeal to the people who get to keep the property, and have no incentive to return it.

We should put the people in charge of running that scheme in charge of making sure the NFL is fair?

There are worse things than the NFL. Do you really think politicians aren't dishonest and self serving also? They're just as bad as everyone else but with more power. Leave them out of this, they'll make it worse.

 

[Fencer]

This has nothing to do with the Constitution or the anti-trust exemption. It's a contract dispute.

Mainly, you're right.

This is a dispute about how many rights somebody can sign away in a contract. The NFLPA's view, which has carried the day in various courts and arbitration hearings in recent years, is that there are some basic rights to due process that are properly viewed as part of the agreement between union and league, even though they're not in the plain text of the contract.

The NFL's view is that since those rights aren't in the plain text of the CBA, they don't exist at all.

I don't actually know the legal source of the NFLPA's view, but I'm guessing that it's legislation, rather than the Constitution directly. By way of contrast, the impossibility of selling yourself into contractual slavery comes pretty directly from the Constitution.

 

[DarrylS]

One of the questions that has not been answered was: Does Brady's Constitutional Rights to Due Process get overshadowed by a CBA which obviously condones the violation of that right???

Can Berman simply say to Goodell that the collectively bargained CBA is a "sham" and he cannot or will not condone an individuals constitutional rights be violated??

INOW do Brady's constitutional rights have a play in this argument??

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

Brady can sign a contract that says all disputes will be settled with a magic 8-ball. That may not be most people's definition of due process either, but it would be fair in that it was a voluntarily agreed upon method of settling a dispute. Kessler is simply arguing the process Brady agreed to, was not the process followed.

 

[AllstonPatsFan]

One of the questions that has not been answered was: Does Brady's Constitutional Rights to Due Process get overshadowed by a CBA which obviously condones the violation of that right???

Can Berman simply say to Goodell that the collectively bargained CBA is a "sham" and he cannot or will not condone an individuals constitutional rights be violated??

INOW do Brady's constitutional rights have a play in this argument??

The Constitution only applies to governmental action. Brady is being deprived of property by a private entity. Thus he can't invoke the constitution. This is a labor law and contract law dispute.

 

[primetime]

It's regarding rights under the NLRA, not the Constitution. In some countries like the Nordics, the right to form a union and bargain collectively is guaranteed constitutionally, but not in the US.

As for civil asset forfeiture, that's a terrible policy and amounts to little more than organized thievery by law enforcement, but it at least can in theory be changed through the democratic mechanisms at the public's disposal. The relationship between an employer and employee cannot.

 

[Big Bucks]

If it goes against could the union not call a strike of its members until the CBA is changed.

 

[primetime]

If it goes against could the union not call a strike of its members until the CBA is changed.

It seems highly unlikely they would vote to strike over this, and Smith won the election on business as usual lines against some more militant candidates.

 

[TommyD4207]

It seems highly unlikely they would vote to strike over this, and Smith won the election on business as usual lines against some more militant candidates.

Well, to be fair, he won because he wasn't Troy Vincent.

 

[borg]

TB12 is America