The Supreme Court denied an appeal from the NFL Tuesday to keep ex-Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores’ discrimination lawsuit against the league from going to trial.
The NFL had asked the high court to instead allow the case to be handled through arbitration, but the justices refused to intervene.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh dissented from the decision. He was the only jurist listed as having gone against the majority ruling to not hear the case.
Lower courts previously sided with Flores and the other plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit against the NFL and several of its franchises.
Flores, who is black, sued the league in February 2022, about a month after he was fired by the Dolphins.
Flores, who had record of 24-25 in his three seasons coaching the Dolphins and currently serves as the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator, alleged the league’s hiring practices were “rife with racism.”
He was later joined in the lawsuit by fellow black coaches Steve Wilks and Ray Horton.
“The NFL must now accept that its commissioner cannot be the arbitrator over discrimination claims against the league and its teams,” David Gottlieb and Douglas Wigdor, attorneys for the coaches, said in a statement.
“We look forward to litigating these claims in court.”
The NFL said it respected the Supreme Court decision but is “fully prepared to defend ourselves as this matter proceeds.”
Flores is suing the NFL as well as the Denver Broncos, the New York Giants and the Houston Texans – teams that refused to hire him following interviews for their head coaching openings.
Wilks, who was fired as the New York Jets’ defensive coordinator in December, joined the lawsuit by claiming the Arizona Cardinals in 2018 hired him as a “bridge coach” before passing him over for the full-time role. He claims 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.
With Post wires
