DeathFromAbove said:
Constitutional protection against ex post facto laws only apply to state action. The NFL and NFLPA are not state actors nor quasi-state actors. The ex post facto clause (Art I, § 10) will not be a bar to amending the CBA. However, Clarrett would have one hell of a lawsuit against the NFLPA for Breach of Duty of Fair Representation if they tried to amend it to exclude only him.
Hope you guys don't mind me weighing in with my uniformed Canadian opinion of US labour laws (I mean labor laws), but I just don't see why, if the NFLPA saw fit to support the NFL on an issue and amend the CBA to reinforce the age restriction against entry into the draft that it would be regarded as an attempt to exclude a single person.
In the first place, my (meager) understanding of the evolution of the non-statutory labor exemption is that originally arose from the outcry against an interpretation of the Sherman Act in the early 1900s that was extremely detrimental to the formation of unions. So I would think that the labor movement would come out very strongly against an interpretation that would restrict the latitude of a collective bargaining unit to represent its constituency. (By the way, I'm not particularly a union "fan").
The other thing is, if the NFLPA actually decides to express an opinion on this matter, I would suggest that there would be a good reason for doing so, and the fact that the NFLPA has come out in support of the league would carry a lot of weight. Although Clarett may be capable of playing in the NFL right now, most likely players of his age will not be. Arguably there is a broader social purpose being served by restricting entry to an age when most players would be finished college - that is, the vast majority of college football players who won't make the NFL will be encouraged to finish their degrees. While there is a social purpose vs. individual rights conflict going on here, at the highest level this is true of the concept of collective bargaining itself. Some union members benefit from the deals negotiated ostensibly on their behalf, however there will, in any union, be individuals who would do better by being outside of the union.
Anyway, as I said, I hope you don't mind me going on like this. I just think I learn more when I throw out my propositions to be tested on the board.
HBP