President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland, the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, to Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court could significantly impact legal challenges over NCAA amateurism rules. This is particularly true for the case brought by Ed O’Bannon and other players over the use of Division I men’s basketball and football players’ names, images and likenesses in broadcasts and video games.
O’Bannon has defeated the NCAA twice, first in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 2014 and second in the U.