## Facts

- Melissa Ludtke, a Sports Illustrated reporter, was accredited to cover the New York Yankees and sought postgame access to the Yankees’ clubhouse locker room at Yankee Stadium for immediate player interviews.
- Accredited male reporters were routinely permitted to enter the locker room after games for interviews; the exclusion applied only to female reporters.
- Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn issued a 1975 directive urging a unified policy against admitting women sportswriters to major league clubhouses; American League President Leland MacPhail approved the policy.
- During the 1977 World Series, the policy was enforced to bar Ludtke from the Yankees’ locker room, while male reporters, including some with cameras, were admitted.
- Yankee Stadium was owned by the City of New York and leased to the Yankees under an agreement that reserved substantial municipal rights of control and required compliance with applicable law.
- Plaintiffs filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 seeking injunctive relief; the court addressed cross-motions for summary judgment.

## Issues

1. Whether the exclusion of accredited female reporters from the Yankees’ locker room at a city-owned stadium constituted state action for Fourteenth Amendment purposes.
2. Whether the sex-based exclusion violated the Equal Protection Clause.
3. Whether the exclusion unconstitutionally burdened Ludtke’s liberty interest in pursuing her occupation under the Due Process Clause.

## Decision

- The court held the challenged exclusion policy constituted state action because it was implemented in a publicly owned facility under a lease and arrangements reflecting significant municipal involvement and retained control.
- The court ruled the policy violated Equal Protection by denying similarly situated female reporters access granted to male reporters, based solely on sex, without adequate justification.
- The court ruled the policy also violated Due Process by unreasonably burdening Ludtke’s ability to pursue her profession on equal terms with male reporters.
- The court granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, denied defendants’ cross-motion, and issued injunctive relief requiring equal access for accredited female reporters, subject only to reasonable privacy protections for players.
- The court declined to reach the First Amendment and state public-accommodations theories because complete relief was available on Equal Protection and Due Process grounds.

## Legal Principles

- Conduct may be treated as state action when a private entity implements a discriminatory policy in a publicly owned facility under governmental ownership, control, and involvement sufficient to attribute the conduct to the state.
- Sex-based exclusions affecting access to professional opportunities are subject to heightened scrutiny; the government must show an important objective and that the classification is substantially related to achieving that objective.
- Privacy interests can be legitimate, but a categorical exclusion based on sex is unconstitutional when less restrictive measures can protect privacy and the asserted rationale is undermined by the facility’s actual access practices.
- The Fourteenth Amendment protects a liberty interest in pursuing a lawful occupation; government-attributable policies that impose unreasonable barriers to equal professional participation can violate Due Process.
- Injunctive relief may require equal access on nondiscriminatory terms while permitting reasonable, narrowly tailored conditions to protect legitimate privacy interests.

## Conclusion

The court enjoined enforcement of a policy barring accredited female reporters from the Yankees’ locker room at a city-owned stadium, holding that the policy was attributable to the state and violated both Equal Protection and Due Process because it imposed a sex-based exclusion not justified by player privacy and unreasonably impaired a reporter’s ability to work on equal terms.


Ludtke v. Kuhn, 461 F. Supp. 86 (S.D.N.Y. 1978)