Santa Clara University School of Law Professor Donald J. Polden authored an editorial published in the San Jose Mercury News, Supreme Court just might take on San Jose’s baseball appeal. In it, Prof. Polden discusses the city of San Jose appealing to lower federal court about appealing the decision of Major League Baseball preventing the Oakland A’s from developing a modern stadium located in downtown San Jose. The piece then discusses why the Court may indeed revisit its previous decisions on the matter.
Recent Court rulings suggest a willingness to revisit old antitrust decisions. In cases involving a form of resale price fixing, the Court overruled long time decisions because, in the majority view, those cases would not be decided the same way today and their holdings conflicted with contemporary notions of antitrust policy. The Court concluded that contemporary economic theory rendered the earlier decisions archaic.
Why should baseball be exempt?
The entire piece may be read at the San Jose Mercury News website.