 In Clarett v. National Football League ( 2004 ) , Sotomayor upheld the National Football League 's eligibility rules requiring players to wait three full seasons after high school graduation before entering the NFL draft . Maurice Clarett challenged these rules , which were part of the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players , on antitrust grounds . Sotomayor held that Clarett 's claim would upset the established " federal labor law favoring and governing the collective bargaining process " . 
