On February 20, 2013, Pennsylvania Governor Thomas W. Corbett, Jr. signed the Pennsylvania Institution of Higher Education Consent Decree Endowment Act, a law specifically designed to disrupt the contractual relationship between the NCAA and Penn State, to prevent the funds Penn State committed in its Consent Decree from being used to prevent child abuse nationwide, and to confiscate those funds for administration by the Pennsylvania Treasury. Within hours, the NCAA filed suit against various Pennsylvania officials, seeking injunctive and declaratory relief from that unconstitutional law.
Senator Corman, who is maintaining a separate state court action, recently attempted to intervene in the NCAA’s federal lawsuit for the sole purpose of urging the federal court not to address the federal constitutional issues presented. Federal law makes clear, however, that intervention is only appropriate when a party has a sufficient interest in the underlying litigation and that the existing parties to the action do not adequately represent the prospective intervenor’s interests.
The NCAA has in the NCAA’s federal lawsuit, arguing that Senator Corman, as a single member of the Pennsylvania legislature with no authority or responsibility to enforce or defend the law, has no legitimate interest in the federal suit and seeks only to make arguments that are already being made by Governor Corbett and other existing Defendants. Federal law does not allow those who have no unique interest or standing to participate. Accordingly, Senator Corman does not meet the legal requirements to intervene under federal law.