Oakland Taking Raider Fight to Supreme Court

Oakland has decided to take its six-year court battle over the Raiders to the U.S. Supreme Court. The city council Wednesday voted, 6-3, to keep fighting for the team, which moved to Los Angeles in 1982.

Oakland contends that it has the right to take over the team under state law that allows cities to acquire private property for public use. It has spent $1.2 million on the eminent domain case since it started its legal fight in 1980, the year the Raider owners said they were moving to Los Angeles.

A lower court found that Oakland’s attempts to use its eminent domain powers to get the team back would be unconstitutional because it would interfere with the National Football League’s right to engage in interstate commerce. The state Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

If the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear the case and rules in favor of Oakland, the matter then would return to California courts.

If Oakland had not decided to appeal the case, the city would have been forced to reimburse the Raider owners for all attorney fees they incurred during the last six years. Attorneys for the Raiders have said the fees total about $6 million.