Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on Tuesday denied the NCAA’s request for a stay of an injunction that will end association-wide limits on education-related benefits that college athletes can receive, reported Bloomberg Law.
Justice Elena Kagan denied the association’s 11th hour bid for an emergency stay preventing the court order from taking effect as scheduled Tuesday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which upheld the injunction in May, rejected a similar request a week earlier.
The Ninth Circuit’s May 18 ruling upheld a California federal judge’s decision preserving the ban on outright pay for athletes but invalidating limits on education-related compensation.
The NCAA had argued that the injunction would irreparably harm college sports if it takes effect immediately because its impact will be difficult, costly, or impossible to reverse.
The association and its 11 member conferences have said they’ll file their Supreme Court petition by the mid-October deadline, which was extended several months because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Steve Berman, an attorney for the plaintiffs, welcomed the stay denial Tuesday.
“We look forward to the NCAA now complying with the court’s injunction and opening competition for students by offering more educational related benefits, an outcome the NCAA’s president has embraced as a good thing for athletes,” Berman told Bloomberg Law.
