The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court Of Appeals has handed the NFL a victory, throwing out a lower court ruling and declaring that the NFL Lockout is legal.
“We conclude that the injunction did not conform to the provisions of the Norris-LaGuardia Act … and we therefore vacate the district court’s order,” the decision stated, adding: "The text of the Norris-LaGuardia Act and the cases interpreting the term “labor dispute” does not require the present existence of a union to establish a labor dispute."
U.S. District Court Judge Susan Nelson had granted the players an injunction halting the lockout.
Negotiations toward a new collective bargaining agreement have been ongoing, including a 12-hour session Thursday. The question now is what this ruling will do to those negotations.
Via Twitter, here are some of the immediate reactions:
This is a narrow decision, gives NFL an immediate victory, but still leaves antitrust risk intact — a perfect push to both sides to settle. — Judy Battista, New York Times
I don’t think Goodell will allow owners to step on players’ throats w/8th Circ ruling. He has to know how dangerous that’d be. — Peter King, SI.com
Dominoes … Rookies/UFAs need to be ruled on … Nelson gets 1st crack … Nelson likely to rule for players … That ruling = Total chaos. — Albert Breer, NFL Network