The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit posts new rulings on its web site every day between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. CT.
Rulings for Tuesday, September 8, have been posted. The list does not include the StarCaps case involving Vikings defensive tackles Pat and Kevin Williams and Saints defensive ends Charles Grant and Will Smith.
We’ve been monitoring the site for the past week, and typically the opinions come in one batch per day. If that pattern holds, there won’t be a StarCaps ruling today.
And this means that the players whose four-game suspensions are hanging in the balance will play this week.
Frankly, it’s a bit surprising that the league has opted not to enforce the suspensions against Grant and Smith, given that there is no injunction or other court order keeping the NFL from acting against them. We suppose, then, that there’s still a chance the league will decide to implement one or both of the Saints suspensions today, even without a ruling affirming the federal court decision dismissing the claims made by the two New Orleans players.