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Page Number: 5

Cite as:  594 U. S. ____ (2021) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

Nos. 20–512 and 20–520 
_________________ 

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, 
PETITIONER 
v. 
SHAWNE ALSTON, ET AL. 

20–512 

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE, ET AL., 
PETITIONERS 
v. 
SHAWNE ALSTON, ET AL. 

20–520 

ON WRITS OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT 

[June 21, 2021] 

JUSTICE GORSUCH delivered the opinion of the Court. 
In the Sherman Act, Congress tasked courts with enforc-
ing a policy of competition on the belief that market forces
“yield  the  best  allocation”  of  the  Nation’s  resources.    Na-
tional Collegiate Athletic Assn. v. Board of Regents of Univ. 
of Okla., 468 U. S. 85, 104, n. 27 (1984).  The plaintiffs be-
fore us brought this lawsuit alleging that the National Col-
legiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and certain of its mem-
ber institutions violated this policy by agreeing to restrict
the  compensation  colleges  and  universities  may  offer  the
student-athletes who play for their teams.  After amassing
a vast record and conducting an  exhaustive trial, the dis-
trict court issued a 50-page opinion that cut both ways.  The