Members of the Court
In a comment, Bill Hue wrote (with a a little copy editing):
In the last sentence from the Cyclingnews.com article, we read,
Pound, Briner and Werner will remain members of the court
This apparently confirms what a number of journalists suspected but could not write with absolute certainty because confirmation was always witheld ........... Dick Pound IS a member of the CAS Court and has been for some time, including the time during which he was Chair of WADA.
Richard Young is also a member of that court (confirmed at his web site). CAS is hopelessly compromised.
That is sad but after all, there are only a few individuals who know the true joy of sport, its unique aspects and the application of sporting "fact" to skewed "principals" of legal due process as they choose to define it (because it is so unique and not understandable to non-sportsmen).
Their world is quite small. We have to accept their draftsmanship of rules, with their prosecution of cases they feel constitute a violation of rules they created and their judging of their own draftsmanship,decision to prosecute and application of "law" they created to cases they deem a violation of those "laws".
Now we understand that they also and finally review their decisions as appellate judges of their own draftsmanship, prosecution, and application of their law to cases they prosecute as violations of that law.
It is small wonder that Richard Young is so adamant about the "guilt" of athletes he prosecutes to the point where he virtually testifies himself. He wrote the law. He knows the standards he wrote. He knows HIS laws and standards were violated.
As judge, he would know much more about the subject matter than pesky things like presentation of evidence and cross examination and credibility of witnesses and impartial evaluation of science.
How in the world can this system be accepted by ANYONE as fair and impartial???? The facts that an athlete "wins" on occasion cannot negate the appearance of and actual conflict of interest inherent in this bizarre adjudicative system
16 comments:
It's almost too depressing to even comment on.
The thought of Pound, the sleazy moron, wandering the corridors of CAS, whispering in the appropriate ears to get the "right" decision ...
I'm left speechless ... and angry
How does CAS work? I thought that three arbitrators heard the case and decided. Do other non-chose arbitrators have a say in the final decision after that? If so, then every athlete everywhere should have an immediate distrust of anything coming out CAS or WADA. The depth of the arrogance and partiality of the system is mind-boggling.
Andy,
You are correct. Thre are 3 arbitrators on the Landis CAS Panel. Except we now have figured out (and that is either pretty easy or pretty hard information to ferret out depending on where you know to look..... kudos to Highwheel and others who emailed me the information (I never could confirm it myself)) that Richard Young and Dick Pound are listed as CAS arbitrators as well.
Imagine you are in Court and the lawyer for your opponant is also a judge on the Court you are in (not THE judge but a judge). Doesn't that look bad? They don't care. Isn't that bad in reality? They don't care. It is sad.
It is a shame that professional cycling has been reduced to nothing more than a shabby attempt at professional wrestling. The promoters are now choosing who is "acceptable" to compete and who isn't. Whole teams are banned, and the best part is the general public is finally beginning to not care anymore. Perhaps then professional cycling can be flushed with Cart/Indy once and for all. Maybe then the racers can get some power and respect. In the mean time I am going riding. And by the way, Floyd is the only honest one in professional cycling as far as I am concerned.
mike
Green MTN.
Yep. Judge, jury and executioner. Hell, and also legislator and policeman in this case.
In fact, they should just call the whole process from start to finish the JJ&E. No more WADA or CAS. When you're going through it, guilty or innocent, you're in the JJ&E.
Holy Sh%& !!!
I have a fair imagination, but could never come close to making that up.
Bold,dishonest,.... the list goes on, but can't adequately define the the depths at which this system was created and is run.
I'm just going to shake my head in disgust and take some time before contemplating sending a seething rant to each of my state's federal legislators.
I can't believe they vote to fund this crap and they are going to keep hearing about it from me.
Is there a way to undo it? Could a state or the federal government pass a statute that declares contracts provisions that require arbitration by the CAS as "void and unenforcable as against public policy."
Get that passed in CA, GA and MO and see what happens. Pass it in CO where the USOC is and really watch the fireworks fly.
Is this being picked up by the main stream sports media? Or do they even care?
David,
I suspect that many in the mainstream sports media took the remark about Pound remaining as a part of the CAS as a throwaway line, and didn't bother to look into the full implications of what it means.
- Rant
Bill,
Does is this open a door for an appeal to the legal system? Are there any grounds for an appeal into the legal system?
Thanks,
BK
bk, sure. They can appeal to any system which has Dick Pound as a member.
syi
This has really been irritating me overnight. So let me get this straight. Essentially you have a situation where:
The man prosecuting you happens to be a member of the Supreme Court.
He's having things whispered in his ear by the man who wrote the law you're accused of breaking. He is also a member of the Supreme Court.
The arbitrators who are hearing your case also happen to be members of the Supreme Court.
You lose and your case goes to the Supreme Court.
Yeah, that's fair.
Gary,
You have it exactly right.
BK,
Better minds than mine have been working on that problem for nearly two years. Nothing that comes to light seems to move this case elsewhere. Give Young his due. He wrote the rules. He knew what he was doing.
bill, and others - do we have any idea if Mr Pound will actually have any 'say' on a/the final decision in the appeal? If we don't know for certain, then it may be premature for everyone to be so down about the situation. If we presume that the arbitors (or judges, or reviewers, not certain what to call them) will maintain a level of objectivity, the Pound situation may be of no consequence. I know that I want to (and DO) place some trust in the CAS appeal, in that it will deliver a 'finish' to the case, and I think it will be decided fairly. Do you think that that's naive, or merely optimistic?
BLT
I'd say optimistic. The system is rigged. However, athletes occasionally "win" for reasons I have discussed here previously.
Makes you wonder what happened at the all CAS meeting a few months back?
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