Court Rules in Favor of MLB Players Union: A Victory for Scumbags

David Ortiz. Manny Ramirez. Alex Rodriguez. Sammy Sosa.

Those are the names of the four scumbags that weren't "lucky" enough to be saved by the courts. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal agents had no right to seize the list of the 104 players that allegedly tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

This is huge for the steroid era in baseball. This is huge for the Major League Baseball Players Association. This could be huge in law. It was a 9-2 decision, meaning it wasn't completely uniform.

The decision means that the federal government can no longer investigate and expose the players on the "list."

What did the federal government do wrong? Well, the Circuit Court ruled that it went way past its authority in seizing the records. They were only supposed to obtain 10 names that were related to BALCO, not the 94 other baseball players and athletes from other sports.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinksi said, "This was an obvious case of deliberate overreaching by the government in an effort to seize data as to which it lacked probable cause."

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

The implications are huge; I cannot stress that enough.

The test results will be destroyed, and prosecutors will be barred from ever using the information in court.

The federal government has one limited option: They have to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.

Why is this a "limited" option? The Supreme Court would have to accept to listen to the case in the first place. The Supreme Court declines 99 percent of cases that are petitioned, so it would be a hard task for the government.

Is the federal government likely to appeal? No. The 9-2 decision should scare them away, and they don't want to be responsible for creating bad law to be applied to future cases.

Also, if the Supreme Court were to accept the case, the focus would clearly not be on steroids in baseball. It would center on setting up legal boundaries for searching and seizing electronic records.

SO WHY IS THIS A VICTORY FOR THE SCUMBAGS?

If the Supreme Court declines to hear the case or rules in favor of the MLBPA, then we will likely never hear the names from a legitimate source. There is absolutely no way the MLBPA would release the names. It's about money. It's about credibility. It's about protecting the players.

This means the 100 other scumbags are let off the hook.

Or are they? Not necessarily, but we would have to look to another group of scumbags to get the information, and that is the leaking lawyers. Once the test results are destroyed, the only people that will know who is on "the list" are these lawyers.

So that puts us in a dilemma. Most people want the names released. Now, the only way is through the leaking lawyers. They are violating the law.

So should we just let the scumbag players off the hook, or let the scumbag lawyers keep breaking the law?

Whatever the answer is, some scumbags are pretty happy after the Ninth Circuit Court's ruling...