A federal appeals court, citing the apparent harm suffered by David Ortiz and other baseball stars who have been exposed as purported drug cheats, ruled yesterday that government agents violated constitutional protections against illegal searches when they seized a list of more than 100 players who allegedly tested positive in 2003 for performance-enhancing drugs.
In a decision with broad implications for workers whose personal records could be targeted by the government, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco voted, 9-2, that federal agents exceeded their authority in a 2004 raid stemming from the BALCO investigation into home run king Barry Bonds and other athletes. Rather than limit their seizure to the records of 10 baseball players listed on a federal warrant, the agents confiscated a database that included confidential drug testing results of “hundreds of other professional baseball players, 13 other sports organizations, three unrelated sporting competitions, and a non-sports business entity,’’ according to the court.
“This was an obvious case of deliberate overreaching by the government in an effort to seize data as to which it lacked probable cause,’’ Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote for the majority, upholding three lower court opinions.
The decision delivered a major victory to the players’ union, which has waged a costly five-year legal battle against the seizure. But the ruling came too late for Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, and Sammy Sosa, who were identified in media reports, citing confidential sources familiar with the seized list, as having tested positive for banned substances in 2003. The list has been sealed by court order since it was seized.
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2009/08/27/court_rules_mlb_drug_list_should_not_have_been_seized/
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