NFL Notebook: Supreme Court gets Clarett case

Wednesday, April 21, 2004 | 10:38 a.m.

SUN WIRE REPORTS

Maurice Clarett's status for the NFL draft is now in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Clarett's attorney, Alan Milstein, filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, asking for a stay of a federal appeals court's decision from 24 hours earlier preventing the former Ohio State tailback from being in this weekend's draft.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will handle the case.

In 1971, lawyers for Detroit high school star Spencer Haywood followed the same approach. A stay preventing Haywood from going in the NBA draft was tossed out by Justice William O. Douglas, opening the door for underclassmen and teenagers to play pro basketball.

"It's the exact same scenario," Milstein said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It just needs to play out the same."

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the stay on Monday, putting a hold on a lower-court ruling that said the NFL can't force players to wait three years after high school before turning pro.

State law allows card players to gamble up to $10 a hand, but sheriff's spokeswoman Linda Butler said today some pots were worth thousands of dollars, and games were held several times a week.