Were Sterling's First Amendment Rights Violated?

When it comes to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution there are a number of freedoms, but the freedom of speech is the key one with this case. Donald Sterling who was the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, was facing serious charges from the NBA because of some racist comments he made on tape. The NBA commissioner David Stern banned Donald Sterling from the NBA forever and fined him the maximum penalty of 2.5 million dollars. As David stated at the press conference after the racist comments, "Our organization does not stand for this, and the NBA has no room for it". Something big had to change with the ownership in LA because the players began to threaten to boycott the games. 

Donald has been known as the kind of rich guy who gets whatever he wants in the court room. He felt as though his first amendment rights were being violated because he had the freedom of speech. Donald is actually correct. He does have a right to say what he said and not have the federal government silence him or punish him. Although the federal government can not touch Donald sterling, that does not mean this also applies to the private organization with which he does business with the NBA. 

The National Basketball Association is a private organization that Donald Sterling was a part of. This means that the United States Constitution, and its First Amendment freedom of speech rights do not apply in the NBA. Unfortunately for Donald, the amendment does not protect him from whatever punishment the NBA decides to give him. Therefore Donald Sterling can take this case to court all he wants, but it seems like his racist comments will still be the death of his NBA career. 

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2014/04/29/were-sterling-first-amendment-rights-violated-nope/dBiqZloaUYWzvoIX1pYcPM/story.html