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Haywood v. National Basketball Association

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Haywood v. National Basketball Association
Syllabus

Haywood v. National Basketball Association, 401 U.S. 1204 (1971), was a U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled, 7–2, against the National Basketball Association’s old requirement that a player may not be drafted by a NBA team unless he waited four years (which meant playing at the college level in most cases) following his graduation from high school.

942577Haywood v. National Basketball Association — Syllabus

United States Supreme Court

401 U.S. 1204

Haywood  v.  National Basketball Assn.

On Application for Stay

No. N/A.  Argued: N/A --- Decided: March 1, 1971

Applicant, a former Olympic star who had signed with the Seattle team of the National Basketball Association (NBA), brought an action against the NBA, claiming that its threatened sanctions against him and the Seattle team for alleged noncompliance with the NBA's player draft rules violated the antitrust laws. The District Court's grant of an injunction pendente lite permitting applicant to play for the Seattle team was stayed by the Court of Appeals. Applicant seeks a stay of the Court of Appeals' action.

Held: The equities as between the parties favor reinstatement of the District Court's preliminary injunction, 28 U.S.C. § 1651 (a), which will enable applicant to play and thus further Seattle's efforts to qualify for the imminent playoffs, and should it be necessary that court can fashion appropriate relief in light of the outcome of the litigation and the athletic competition.


MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, Circuit Justice.

Notes

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This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).

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