[LarryS]

First off, I am not an attorney.

However, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that people and organizations have a Constitutionally protected right to free association. If you recall, the most recent high profile ruling was related to the Boy Scouts of America when they ruled that the BSA had the right to put into place whatever membership restrictions they desired. Now this would be a little apples and oranges as the districts probably receive some tax dollars. However, if a non-attorney like me can think about saying "We are restricting the number of initial members in this conference to X, and we are already at that number. If, at some future date, the conference decides to expand we would welcome applications from the remaining SICA institutions." I feel sure that they are prepared for the suit. It is probably safe to assume the districts had some bright legal minds helping them organize.

Is it fair...maybe, maybe not. But life's not fair...grow up and get over it. This smells like "WAAA, they wont play with me!"

And, I agree with Texas Aggie...if a federal judge denies these districts their right to free association, he is a bonehead. I will even go as far as to say he would deserve to be impeached.