PGA TOUR, Inc. v. Martin, 532 U.S. 661, 36 (2001)

Page:   Index   Previous  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  39  40  41  42  43  Next

696

PGA TOUR, INC. v. MARTIN

Scalia, J., dissenting

As the Court points out, the ADA specifically identifies golf courses as one of the covered places of public accommodation. See § 12181(7)(L) ("a gymnasium, health spa, bowling alley, golf course, or other place of exercise or recreation"); and the distinctive "goo[d], servic[e], facilit[y], privileg[e], advantag[e], or accommodatio[n]" identified by that provision as distinctive to that category of place of public accommodation is "exercise or recreation." Respondent did not seek to "exercise" or "recreate" at the PGA TOUR events; he sought to make money (which is why he is called a professional golfer). He was not a customer buying recreation or entertainment; he was a professional athlete selling it. That is the reason (among others) the Court's reliance upon Civil Rights Act cases like Daniel v. Paul, 395 U. S. 298 (1969), see ante, at 681, is misplaced. A professional golfer's practicing his profession is not comparable to John Q. Public's frequenting "a 232-acre amusement area with swimming, boating, sun bathing, picnicking, miniature golf, dancing facilities, and a snack bar." Daniel, supra, at 301.

The Court relies heavily upon the Q-School. It says that petitioner offers the golfing public the "privilege" of "competing in the Q-School and playing in the tours; indeed, the former is a privilege for which thousands of individuals from the general public pay, and the latter is one for which they vie." Ante, at 677. But the Q-School is no more a "privilege" offered for the general public's "enjoyment" than is the California Bar Exam.1 It is a competition for entry into the PGA TOUR—an open tryout, no different in principle from open casting for a movie or stage production, or walk-on try-1 The California Bar Exam is covered by the ADA, by the way, because a separate provision of Title III applies to "examinations . . . related to applications, licensing, certification, or credentialing for secondary or post-secondary education, professional, or trade purposes." 42 U. S. C. § 12189. If open tryouts were "privileges" under § 12182, and participants in the tryouts "customers," § 12189 would have been unnecessary.

Page:   Index   Previous  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  39  40  41  42  43  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007