Sankey’s Desperate Hail Mary: Why the SEC’s Federal Lawsuit Against LSU is Total Nonsense

Sued…on a super niche First Amendment issue that applies to ideological, political, or social groups that most legal scholars consider a fragile legal theory at best.

To all of you clamoring about how LSU is finished, etc., let me break this down for you:

1) The SEC’s argument and filing was a strategic move. It gives the SEC federal standing to seek injunctive relief against a state university, but as a substantive First Amendment claim, which underpins the litigation, it stretches Supreme Court precedent traditionally applied to ideological, political, or social groups into commercial sports governance and will face a steep uphill battle in court. It more or less serves as a creative procedural vehicle to get the case in federal court.

2) Furthermore, the prospective injunctive relief is “meh” at best.

LSU Possesses Sovereign Immunity: Under the 11th Amendment, state entities possess sovereign immunity from private suits in federal court unless (1) the state waives its immunity, or (2) Congress validly abrogates it via legislation. LSU (a public university) is an arm of the State of Louisiana and generally possesses sovereign immunity against federal lawsuits. To bypass this, the SEC must rely on the Ex parte Young doctrine—suing individual university officials (such as President Rousse or AD Verge Ausberry) in their official capacity to enjoin future unconstitutional conduct, which is ultimately likely to fail as explained below. The SEC did that, but they will still most likely lose. Ex parte Young applies only to ongoing violations of federal constitutional or statutory law, which constitutional or statutory authorities are lacking in the instant case. If LSU’s motion to dismiss successfully establishes that the SEC’s First Amendment claim is legally meritless (i.e., that a commercial sports rule dispute does not constitute a valid "expressive association" violation), the federal anchor dissolves. Without a viable federal constitutional violation, Ex parte Young fails, and the 11th Amendment immediately blocks the entire federal lawsuit.

LSU Can Beat the SEC Down in Motion Practice: LSU will most likely file a motion to dismiss (think 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim because of the patently stupid First Amendment violation allegations that do not apply to collegiate athletic conferences) or transfer venue under 28 U.S.C. § 1404, arguing that Louisiana is the proper forum given the concurrent litigation in the 19th Judicial District Court for the Parish of East Baton Rouge that was instituted before the SEC filed in Birmingham federal court and for which said 19th JDC lawsuit is further along in litigation.

Under the landmark Supreme Court case Pennhurst State School & Hospital v. Haldeman (1984), Ex parte Young does not apply to claims that state officials are violating state law or internal contracts (like SEC bylaws/bylaw enforcement). If I were LSU, I would file both motions simultaneously and hammer the SEC because frick ‘em and everyone in their camp.

Federal-State Court Conflict (Anti-Injunction Act): There is also what is known as the Anti-Injunction Act. Under 28 U.S.C. § 2283, federal courts are generally barred from granting injunctions to stay state court proceedings. If an injunction effectively invalidates the 19th JDC’s ruling regarding player eligibility, the federal judge must ensure it does not cross statutory lines against interfering with state judiciaries. How the federal judge might accomplish that, I do not know because that’s ultimately up to the judge.

TLDR: Greg Sankey is throwing a desperate, legal hail-mary in Alabama because he’s terrified of Louisiana state-court momentum.

The SEC claims LSU and Lane Kiffin are violating their "First Amendment right to expressive association" by forcing the league to endorse a product (former NFL contract guys) that ruins their amateur branding, which was already ruined in the Supreme Court’s 9-0 Alston decision.

It’s a procedural maneuver. The SEC filed in federal court in Birmingham so they could dodge the Louisiana state judges who keep handing TROs to the players. On the merits, it’s soft like you and the rest of the people here who do nothing but bitch and moan about LSU and Kiffin. Courts routinely laugh off massive commercial sports cartels trying to hide behind "free speech" to dodge state court orders or enforce internal rules retroactively. LSU is a voluntary business partner, not a state regulator compelling speech on them.

Technically, the Alabama judge can issue an injunction against LSU because Article III power covers LSU everywhere. But LSU’s lawyers will immediately flip and throw Ex Parte Young back at the SEC, 11th Amendment sovereign immunity, and Anti-Injunction Act landmines in their face to block it.

Sankey’s trying to drag us into a federal court to freeze the roster before kickoff because the head office in Birmingham is running scared.

P.S.A. to everyone cheering on the demise of LSU in the wake of the SEC filing: go take a lap, log off the internet, and figure out how federal cases actually work before you embarrass yourself with your double digit IQs trying to talk law to your superiors. Go back to your Tuscaloosa, Athens, Oxford, and aggy cope threads and keep crying tears into your pom-poms about LSU and Lane Kiffin.