According to an article on Outside Online, the means the USADA is going to in order to dethrone Lance, it may actually breaking the rules. USADA is not part of the federal government and has no judicial standing. It’s a private non-profit company that is supposed to handle the anti-doping program for American athletes competing in the Olympics and other major events.
Outside says that even though Lance never failed a drug test, the USADA is going after Lance based on “non-analytical positive” which is evidence in the form of testimony and documents. This is how they convinced the review board to charge him. The powers they are using to do this are not clearly defined and they seem to be overstepping their role.
Quoted: “It’s this cluster of murkily defined powers that should trouble not just sport fans, but any citizen. It’s also what angers Armstrong’s lawyers and their complaints can’t be laughed off. ..his lawyers accused USADA of criminal conduct, abuse of power, ‘arrogant disregard of federal law’, ‘acting outside the scope of its jurisdiction’ and ‘concealing information.’ They also accused USADA of “believing itself above the United States Constitution, above the law, above court review, free from supervision from any person or organization, and even above its own rules.”
Outside says that “some independent legal experts will tell you he and his lawyers have a point. Some think it may be the opening “skirmish in a valid long-term strategy: challenging USADA’s legitimacy in federal court while trying to establish that, if it’s going to behave like a law-enforcement agency, it should be held to the same standards as one.” If Lance’s lawyers can show this, he’ll have “more leverage in determining what USADA knows, how it found out, who are the witnesses and what it can do to punish Armstrong.”
USADA isn’t supposed to get involved in criminal investigations. The federal government did a big investigation and dropped the case. “The USADA acts like the government, works with the government, has harnessed powers of government yet it’s a private corporation.”
“The USADA says it has direct authority over thousands of citizens, with the ability to deprive them of property rights, ruin their reputations, and even conduct warrantless searches and seizures. It argues that it can use the courts to compel people who have nothing to do with sports to testify in its private proceedings under the threat of perjury, to surrender evidence or other documents, and to name names. It insists that it doesn’t have to follow the usual rules of justice guaranteed under the Constitution. What’s more, it’s been actively expanding its powers.”
It’s a very lengthy article, detailing the history of WADA and other issues relating to doping and sports.
