How the Government Railroaded Alex Rodriguez
IRS Agent Illegally Seized A-Rod's Steroid Test Results in 2004
Feb 8, 2009
Sports Illustrated recently broke the story that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids during the 2003 baseball season. Shortly thereafter, the Yankee third baseman issued a statement to the press offering apologies and partial explanations for his misdeeds. When the Yankees spring training opened, Rodriguez was joined by his teammates in a press conference, during which he publicly confirmed that, yes, he had taken steroids from 2001 through 2003.
Right now, the consensus, among those who determine such absurd fleeting notions, is that Rodriguez permanently tarnished his legacy with this scandal. That may be the case. Only time will tell.
But this story isn't about that. This story is about the test results themselves. How did A-Rod's supposedly confidential, supposedly anonymous, test results end up in the hands of the press in the first place? This is that story.
2003: Players and MLB Agree to Anonymous, Random Testing
In 2003, the players, through their union, agreed with the owners, in a written contract, that they would submit to random, unannounced testing for anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs.
The agreement promised players that all of these test results would be kept confidential and anonymous. Finally, the sides agreed that any player who tested positive for performance enhancers in 2003 would not be punished.
It was further agreed that if more than 5% of players tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, then the the MLB would move to a stricter steroid policy in 2004, one that allowed for fines and suspensions of transgressors.
Those were supposed to be the rules, and one would have to think that the players relied upon the promises of confidentiality and anonymity when they agreed to pee in a cup in front of a total stranger, and then voluntarily hand over their bodily fluids to said stranger.
To his credit, Commissioner Bud Selig faithfully adhered to these rules when he announced the results of the 2003 testing program. Selig disclosed the percentage of players who tested positive, but he did not name names. He certainly didn't name Alex Rodriguez.
Government Raids Quest Diagnostics; Illegally Seizes Results
About a year later, as part of the investigation into steroid distribution charges in the infamous BALCO case, federal prosecutors wanted the 2003 steroid test results of 10 players who had testified in that case's grand jury hearings. The test results were being stored at Quest Diagnostics, a California laboratory and testing facility. Major League Baseball, the union and the government then negotiated a warrant that allowed the agents to retrieve steroid test results for 10 players named in the warrant.
Alex Rodriguez was not one of the 10 players.
IRS agent Jeff Novitzky could have ended his search of Quest Diagnostics when he was provided with the test results of the aforementioned 10 players. But he didn't end it. Instead, Novitzky had one of his team members search through the laboratory’s computers and copy more than 4,000 additional files into the government's computers. Among the files he copied were the records of 104 players who had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs during the 2003 season.
Major League Baseball immediately challenged the raid in court, demanding the files be returned. A federal district judge condemned Novitzky’s conduct as “unreasonable and constituting harassment.” She went on to rule as follows:
“I think the government has displayed … a callous disregard for constitutional rights. I think it’s a seizure beyond what was authorized by the search warrant, therefore it violates the Fourth Amendment.”
The search was ruled illegal, but the harm had already been done. Novitzky had already seen the confidential results of every random steroid test conducted by the MLB in 2003.
For the next four years, the 104 names were kept confidential.
Then, a week ago, as if by magic, the name of Alex Rodriguez was leaked to the press. A few days later, A-Rod's "confidential" and "anonymous" test results had become the news of the world. Every television sports network anchor and radio call-in show host is talking about it. ESPN is absolutely thrilled. Newspapers are selling! There seems to be an entire mini-economy that is being built around the results of A-Rod's 2003 confidential steroid tests.
So much for confidentiality, so much for anonymity, so much for the Fourth Amendment.
So much for the other 103 guys, all of whom must now wait for the other shoe to drop.
