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The National Collegiate Athletic Association filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday over a new Pennsylvania law that would interfere with its sanctions against Pennsylvania State University stemming from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case. Among other penalties, the NCAA fined Penn State $60 million, to be donated to programs that benefit victims of child abuse nationwide. Months after Penn State agreed to the sanctions, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA in January, arguing that the money should stay in-state. The NCAA’s lawsuit against Corbett and other state officials seeks to invalidate a law, signed by Corbett on Wednesday, that would require that the money be paid into a state endowment and then distributed to child sex-abuse prevention programs in Pennsylvania.
The NCAA says in its lawsuit that the Pennsylvania law violates an article in the Constitution declaring that states may not make laws “impairing the obligation of contracts”; a Fifth Amendment clause that says “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation”; and an article providing that “The Congress shall have power … [t]o regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with Indian tribes.”
NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a news release that members must abide by the rules to which they have agreed. “If individual members or state lawmakers take it upon themselves to decide what sanctions are appropriate, simply to protect their home team,” he said, “then collegiate sports would be dramatically altered.”
