Jesse Choper quoted in The Christian Science Monitor, May 8, 2014
The remarks were recorded illegally and disseminated without Sterling’s consent, says Jesse Choper, a constitutional specialist. Therefore, he says, they might not meet the NBA constitution’s admonition that “an owner will not take any position or action that will materially and adversely affect a team or the league,” as ESPN puts it. “This was a confidential conversation with a lady friend: He certainly wasn’t taking any position, and he never made it public,” Mr. Choper says. “The key words are ‘position’ and ‘action.’”