Kavanaugh’s Sports Fandom Shines in Athlete-Centered Opinion

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a zealous sports fan who said he’d be part of a team of nine at his confirming hearings, went solo in a pointed opinion this week that could change the face of college athletics.

Kavanaugh joined Monday’s unanimous ruling that the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s rules against so-called education-based compensation ran afoul of antitrust law. Kavanaugh went further, suggesting other NCAA compensation rules may also be unlawful in a concurrence that sports law scholar Sam Ehrlich called “a shot across the bow at the NCAA.”

The opinion in NCAA v. Alston by Kavanaugh, who made references to ...