Thursday, May 1, 2014
Is banning Donald Sterling for life from the NBA legal?
People are raging about Donald Sterling. If you didn't know, Donald Sterling (previous owner of the Clippers) was caught on tape telling his girlfriend not to take black people to basketball games. Racist views are not allowed in the NBA, so Donald Sterling was banned for life and fined $2.5 million. While racism is horrible and nobody is ever acceptable if they are racist, the 1st amendment protects him. While the US court has set rules for what speech is accepted and what speech isn't, nowhere does is say that a private conversation including offensive political/personal view are illegal! It is the NBA's choice, but they have no ground to stand on legally. On top of being banned, he received a $2.5 MILLION fine. That is unacceptable, even to someone being racist. Do you think the first amendment protects Donald Sterling?
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I like your take on this, but the N.B.A. is well within their rights as an organization. Sterling, as an owner, agreed to abide by certain terms of ownership. He violated the ethical conduct clause and thus was given the maximum fine and the lifetime ban. The First Amendment isn't in play in this instance, believe it or not.
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