April Fooled
Reports of Supreme Court Fantasy Baseball Case Are Wildly Exaggerated
Posted Apr 2, 2008, 06:38 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Updated: A blogger created quite a stir yesterday when he reported that the U.S. Supreme Court had agreed to decide whether fantasy sports players had a First Amendment right to use statistics provided by Major League Baseball.
Eric Turkewitz of the New York Personal Injury Law Blog wrote that five justices participate in a fantasy baseball league, but only three decided that their participation required their recusal. According to Turkewitz, those who recused were Justices John Paul Stevens, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Stephen G. Breyer. But Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg declined to disqualify themselves.
Other blogs noted the news, including the San Diego Tribune’s America’s Finest Blog, Above the Law and the Volokh Conspiracy.
Funny, but SCOTUSblog didn’t note the cert grant. Some commenters pointed out that Turkewitz's blog post also contained the news that Siddhartha Finch was trying to get back in baseball even though he is now over the age of 50. The story of Finch, who learned to pitch a 168 mile-an-hour fastball from a Tibetan master, was originally published in Sports Illustrated in 1985 and was part of an April Fool’s Day hoax.
So too, was Turkewitz’s story, a fact later noted on America’s Finest Blog. Although the MLB dispute is a real case, and a petition for certiorari has been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, there was no cert grant and no Supreme Court recusals.
In an interview with ABAJournal.com, Turkewitz said David Lat of Above the Law was in on the joke, placing the link to Turkewitz's website above a New York Times story in his morning roundup. And he notes that the Volokh Conspiracy, written by UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh, highlighted one of his clues: a reference to the supposed name of the Supreme Court fantasy team, Articles for Deletion, or AFD (also the initials of April Fool's Day).
"I don’t know if Volokh knew if it was a joke when he posted," says Turkewitz. "I’d like to think that he was taken, but he’s a smart guy."
A third clue was Turkewitz's reference to Justice Stevens' retired administrative clerk, Ernie Thayer. The author of Casey at the Bat is Ernest Thayer.
The three clues "were deliberately buried," Turkewitz says. "The post was longer than it needed to be on the theory that people don’t read to the end of things."
Updated at 8:20 a.m. to include information from Turkewitz interview.
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Comments
Posted by T. Andersen - 7 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes ago
What a waste of time. As if baseball wasn’t a vapid doledrum in itself. Playing fantasy baseball is the equivalent of painting a picture of grass growing. It’s slightly more entertaining than watching the grass grow, but in reality it’s still just as bad. And then we have a fantasy created about fantasy baseball as a joke. I guess everyone has their opiate but Eric Turkewitless has too much time on his hands.
Posted by nesrednat - 7 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 3 hours, 17 minutes ago
personally, i lead a fascinating life. my hobby is to post comments in response to comments that respond to supposedly boring pastimes based on america’s even more boring pastime. i need more time!
Posted by Sande Teren - 7 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 2 hours, 4 minutes ago
I once painted a picture of grass growing. Then I found a better hobby: agreeing with those who respond to comments about fantasies created about fantasy baseball. T. Andersen=vapid doldrum!
Posted by Matt Wood - 7 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 22 hours, 31 minutes ago
My hobby is of a different but related sort—I spend my time admiring comments on ABA Journal.com that excoriate others for wasting their time or having no sense of what makes for real news. Since these types of comments account for some 90% of comments posted here, I naturally find that I get little else done on Fridays.
Posted by JEdwards - 7 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 1 hour, 33 minutes ago
well, I for one am glad to see at least three people have a sense of humor. however, living here in the upper midwest, I am anxiously awaiting the growing of grass this spring.