Certiorari, the Supreme Court's decision to hear a case, is discretionary. A denial of certiorari is not a ruling that Flores has proved his allegations, and it is not a Supreme Court endorsement of the Second Circuit's reasoning. It means the lower-court decision remains operative and the case can proceed in federal court.
The Supreme Court docket shows the petition was filed on 2 January 2026, docketed on 6 January and came from the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, case number 23-1185. It lists the Second Circuit's decision date as 14 August 2025 and the denial of rehearing as 6 October 2025.
The docket also records a material limit on Tuesday's order: Justice Brett Kavanaugh would have granted the petition for a writ of certiorari. That notation is not an opinion on whether Flores's discrimination claims are true. It is a signal that at least one justice thought the arbitration question warranted Supreme Court review.
The Associated Press reported that the justices rebuffed an appeal from the league, which wanted the claims handled through its arbitration process rather than open court in New York. AP reported that Kavanaugh dissented from the decision not to hear the case.
The legal issue is the enforceability of the arbitration clause. Arbitration is a private dispute-resolution process that can replace court litigation when parties validly agree to it. The Second Circuit held that the NFL constitution's grant of unilateral arbitral authority to Commissioner Roger Goodell was unenforceable for Flores's claims because it did not provide a meaningful arbitral forum.
The Second Circuit opinion, published by Justia, said the provision gave the commissioner, the principal executive of one of Flores's adverse parties, unilateral substantive and procedural discretion. The court held that this amounted to arbitration in name only and lacked protection under the Federal Arbitration Act, the federal law that generally favours enforcing valid arbitration agreements.
Flores filed the lawsuit in 2022, alleging racial discrimination in NFL hiring and management. AP reported that he is Black, that the suit later included fellow Black coaches Steve Wilks and Ray Horton, and that Flores is now the Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator. Those remain allegations. Tuesday's Supreme Court action does not decide whether the NFL or any team discriminated against Flores or other coaches.