Supreme Court passes on Vikings' Williamses case

The Supreme Court won't stop a Minnesota state court from getting involved in a fight between the NFL and Minnesota Vikings defensive linemen Kevin Williams and Pat Williams over violations of the league's anti-doping policy.

The high court refused Monday to hear an appeal from the National Football League.

The players took the weight-loss supplement StarCaps, which contained an unlisted but banned diuretic that can mask the presence of steroids. The federal courts threw out the players' appeal of their NFL suspensions, but said there were issues that should be considered in state court.

The NFL wanted the entire lawsuit thrown out, saying the players' union contract and federal law trump state law in this case.

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The two players argued that the NFL's testing violated Minnesota workplace laws.

Minnesota state law requires that an employer give an employee who tests positive for drug use the right to explain the positive test. The NFL's policy says a positive result won't be excused because a player was unaware he was taking a prohibited substance.

Attorneys for the NFL had argued it should be allowed to enforce its anti-doping policy because it was a product of the NFL's collective bargaining agreement with the players union. The agreement is governed by federal labor law, which they argued pre-empted the state laws.

The case is National Football League v. Williams, 09-1380.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)