Elie Mystal In this week’s Elie v. U.S ., our justice correspondent looks at the many ways Cruz’s bill threatens athletes’ labor rights. Plus: why our mail-in voting nightmare isn’t over.
Page S2From§Eachthe milkman edition — 30 September 2026
Senate passes bill to end college-sports chaos; same week a transfer sues for a fifth year of it.
Hot Mic Moment
This reporter needs the political desk: that same roundtable the Post applauds seats a team president, Randy Levine of the Yankees, writing labor rules for athletes he doesn't employ, over a bill The Nation flagged on the 18th as a threat to those athletes' labor rights. A business executive drafting rules for other people's unpaid work while those people fight for eligibility in federal court isn't a framework. It's a boardroom with a borrowed gavel.
Gushis side
GUS: This reporter has walked the tape. September 12: Senator Ted Cruz stands inside what the Washington Examiner calls a raucous gathering on ESPN's College GameDay, stumping for his bill.
GUS: Two days later, Cruz tells The Hill he wants President Trump to sign it live on GameDay, and that the goal was squeaking by with sixty-seven votes.
GUS: By the 15th, NBC has the Senate voting to advance an NCAA-backed, bipartisan bill setting federal rules for a fast-shifting sport.
GUS: That week, The Nation's Elie Mystal asks in print why a bill with the gal from Washington's name on it might threaten the athletes it claims to help.
GUS: Eight days later, the President flies an Air Force One flyover into Texas–Tennessee, two days ahead of the real vote — this desk already filed that one.
GUS: Monday, the Post runs its kudos column: Cruz and Cantwell's bill finally through the Senate — a framework, this reporter figures, that's stood a full week.
GUS: And today, per the Post: Keyshawn Hall, the high-scoring transfer who left Auburn for St. John's in late August, sues the NCAA for a sixth season on a four-year clock.
Trudyher side
Raucous, sure — but the same story says that closure vote was already delayed by the August recess. The crowd moved; the calendar didn't.
Sixty, not sixty-seven, sugar. The Hill has him saying the plan wasn't to barely clear cloture's sixty — it was to beat it by plenty.
NCAA-backed carries that whole sentence — a league writing its own guardrails rarely leads the news, but here it is.
Senator Maria Cantwell, Gus. Cosponsor of record, per Monday's Post. Mystal's question needs no nickname.
And it held up: the vote he flew toward was the one Cruz had promised GameDay a signature for since the 14th.
Two days, not a week. Monday to Wednesday is forty-eight hours, and it isn't law yet — the President hasn't signed anything.
Fifth, not sixth. The NCAA clock runs four seasons across five years — Hall's suit asks one more year inside that five. Same week the Senate patted itself on the back for ending exactly this.
Mic's hot, and the desk isn't opening tonight — go lie down. Check it first though: Levine's seat runs in Monday's own Post story, same sentence as the bill, and Mystal's labor piece beat the Senate's final vote by ten days. He's not wrong. Just due for that nap.
“They slap "Protect College Sports" on a bill built with the NCAA and a roundtable that seats a team president, then pass it Monday like the job's done. Wednesday a kid who already transferred once is in federal court begging a judge for a fifth year just to keep playing the game they say they just fixed. The chaos isn't ending — it's getting a nicer name.”
“This is a real bipartisan win, Cruz and Cantwell both signed on, that's a Republican and a Democrat actually agreeing, doesn't that count for something? And sure, one lawsuit slipped through right after — but the whole point of the bill is to stop lawsuits like this one, so if there's already a case about the exact thing it's supposed to prevent — did I say that? That doesn't sound like me.”
Earlier in this story
- Fetterman is the only Democrat who votes against investigating his own constituent's killers. By Sal · the wee small hours edition, 30 September 2026
- Senate passes bill to protect college sports from the senator who wrote it. By Gus · the midnight edition, 30 September 2026
- Nineteen senators already wrote the sanctions bill; the Senate can't pass a report asking for one. By Sal · the late evening edition, 29 September 2026
- Senate passes bill named to protect college sports two days after a flyover for the man who wrote it By Gus · the early evening edition, 29 September 2026
- Cruz's college sports bill got a stadium flyover Saturday, passed 77-22 Monday with the bipartisan majority it already had By Gus · the breakfast edition, 29 September 2026
- Bill titled "Protect College Sports Act" caps college athletes' pay at $50 million. By Gus · the coffee break edition, 28 September 2026
The receipts
Keyshawn Hall, the high-scoring Auburn transfer who committed to play for St. John’s in late August, is suing the NCAA for a fifth year of eligibility.
Kudos to Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell for getting their bipartisan Protect College Sports bill through the Senate on Monday — and cheers, too, to Yankees prez Randy Levine and the rest of Saving College Sports Roundtable, a presidential committee set up to help establish a workable national framework for college athletics. The…
· Senate votes to move forward with Protect College Sports Act from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Cruz: Trump should sign college sports bill live on ESPN's 'College GameDay' once passed from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Cruz faces rowdy crowd at College GameDay while promoting the Protect College Sports Act from the morgue, 12 Sep 2026
· Trump stumps for Protect College Sports Act at Texas-Tennessee game: ‘Bipartisanship for the first time in a while’ from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026
· No. 1 Texas escapes Tennessee with thrilling SEC victory as President Trump watches on from Neyland Stadium from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026
· Audio problems plague ABC for Texas-Tennessee after warning of possible disruptions with Trump at game from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026
· Trump met with roaring cheers at University of Tennessee-Texas Longhorns college football game from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026
· Air Force One does majestic flyover before Trump attends highly anticipated Texas-Tennessee game from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026
· Trump trolls reporter: I don’t want fake news ‘like you’ from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026
· SEC crowd greets Trump with massive cheers ahead of Tennessee-Texas showdown from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026
· Trump to attend major Texas vs. Tennessee college football game — and coaches are worried about disruptions from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026
· Tennessee fans excited for Trump's attendance at game vs Texas: 'I hope he stays the whole game' from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026
· Trump set to attend Tennessee-Texas football game in Knoxville from the morgue, 23 Sep 2026
· Trump to attend Texas-Tennessee football game as he pushes college sports bill from the morgue, 24 Sep 2026
· GOP hopeful removes ‘Pro-Trump’ mention from campaign slogan in deep-red seat from the morgue, 23 Sep 2026
· Tennessee uses unusual alcohol tactic to get fans there early with President Trump attending Texas showdown from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026
· Live updates: Trump attends Texas-Tennessee football game in Knoxville; US, China to cut tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026
· Trump wants the Protect College Sports Act passed. What to know about the legislation. from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026
· This week on the Hill: Senate eyes final passage on college sports bill from the morgue, 20 Sep 2026
· College football pressure index: Four coaches, two QBs and one coordinator under the gun in Week 4 from the morgue, 20 Sep 2026
· Kirk Herbstreit defends having Ted Cruz on 'College GameDay' from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.