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Arlen Specter Kicks His Dog

By Rick Karcher, Michael McCann, Geoffrey Rapp, Greg Skidmore, and Howard Wasserman

The New York Times reports that Sen. Arlen Specter wants NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain and justify the league's destruction of the videotapes that the New England Patriots took of opponents' sideline signals, a violation of league rules that resulted in fines and a loss of a draft pick earlier this year. Goodell responded to numerous questions about the tapes and Specter during his pre-Super Bowl press conference today. In The Times story, Specter dropped the line that the underlying conduct is never as important as the cover-up. The basis for congressional interest is, as always, the league's antitrust exemption.

Now, I admittedly do not think much of congressional investigations, not because I do not think oversight is important, but because I think the modern Congress does it so poorly. And I really have no use for congressional investigations of professional sports, which make committee members look petty and uninformed, as well as incompetent. But beyond that, it seems there is a more pressing example of videotape destruction that is far more important in the great scheme of things and far more deserving of congressional attention. But Specter knows that any serious attempt to investigate the destruction of the CIA tapes will run smack into a White House and CIA stonewall and cries of national security, executive privilege, and classified information.

Not to go all pop psych on you, but: Specter is acting as the legislative equivalent of the small, weak kid in the schoolyard being picked on by a bigger, stronger kid and unable to fight back, at least not without getting badly beaten up. So he turns around and finds someone even smaller and weaker who he can beat up--usually the family dog.

Cross-posted at PrawfsBlawg

Full post as published by Sports Law Blog on February 01, 2008 (boomark / email).