The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to let the NFL drag Brian Flores’ discrimination lawsuit back into the league’s own arbitration machinery, allowing the case to proceed toward trial in open court in New York. The justices rejected the league’s appeal, leaving in place lower-court rulings that blocked the NFL from forcing Flores and other Black coaches to fight their claims before the same institution they say discriminated against them.
Who Gets to Judge the Bosses
Flores, who is Black, sued the league and three teams in February 2022, alleging the NFL was “rife with racism” in its hiring practices for Black coaches. He was later joined by fellow Black coaches Steve Wilks and Ray Horton. Flores, who was fired by the Dolphins shortly before the suit was filed, is now the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator.
The league had argued that Flores should go through arbitration rather than the legal system. That would have kept the dispute inside the NFL’s own controlled process, with commissioner Roger Goodell or an appointed arbitrator sitting in judgment over discrimination claims against the league and its teams. The Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene means that arrangement stays blocked for now.
David Gottlieb and Douglas Wigdor, attorneys for the plaintiffs, said they were pleased with the decision. “The NFL must now accept that its commissioner cannot be the arbitrator over discrimination claims against the league and its teams. We look forward to litigating these claims in court,” they said in a statement.
What the League Wanted
The NFL said it respected the Supreme Court decision, which allows lower-court rulings to stay in place, but is “fully prepared to defend ourselves as this matter proceeds.” The league has argued that Flores’ employment contract allows commissioner Roger Goodell to rule on various disputes or to appoint an independent arbitrator to oversee them.
U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni ruled in 2023 that the league’s arbitration clause applied only to Flores’ claims against the Dolphins. That decision was later reversed after the appeals court ruled that the league’s arbitration provision is “unworthy even of the name of arbitration.” The NFL and three of the teams being sued told the Supreme Court that federal law “protects not only the parties’ decision to arbitrate but also their chosen arbitration procedures, including their choice of arbitrator.” Flores’ attorneys countered that the appeals court’s ruling is consistent with other lower-court decisions saying employers can’t force workers to fight discrimination claims before the employer’s own chief executive.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh dissented from the decision not to hear the case.
The People Behind the Case
Flores sued the NFL as well as the Denver Broncos, the New York Giants and the Houston Texans. He interviewed with the Broncos in 2019 and the Giants and Texans in 2022. Flores was fired after posting a 24-25 record over three years without a playoff appearance. The Dolphins did have back-to-back winning seasons before Flores was dismissed.
Wilks joined the lawsuit by claiming the Arizona Cardinals in 2018 hired him as a “bridge coach” — promoting him to interim coach after they fired another coach but then passing over him for the full-time role. He said the Cardinals didn’t provide him with a realistic chance to succeed. Horton, who last coached in the NFL in 2019, alleged the Tennessee Titans didn’t offer him a genuine interview for the head coaching position in 2016.
The case now moves forward with the league’s preferred private gatekeeping shut down for the moment, and with the plaintiffs set to litigate their claims in court rather than inside the NFL’s own house.