“To hold otherwise would be to turn federal judges into referees for a game in which they have no place, and about which they know little.”

Thanks to reader Jim for noticing Judge Sam Sparks' ruling in the Lance Armstrong case, as quoted in Juliet Macur's story.

USGA legal might want to take note of this:

Judge Sam Sparks of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, in Austin, who acknowledged that the case had “troubling aspects,” said that the United States courts should not be involved because the antidoping agency’s arbitration rules were robust enough to deal with the matter. He also said Armstrong had agreed to be governed by those rules when he signed for his cycling license.

“Federal courts should not interfere with an amateur sports organization’s disciplinary procedures unless the organization shows wanton disregard for its rules, to the immediate and irreparable harm of a plaintiff, where the plaintiff has no other available remedy,” Sparks said in his ruling. “To hold otherwise would be to turn federal judges into referees for a game in which they have no place, and about which they know little.”

A PDF of the entire ruling is here.

Lawyers and those who think they are, thoughts?