Ted Canter Explains the SEC’s Case Against LSU for Alabama’s 42 News

Minutes before a federal judge in Birmingham was set to hear the Southeastern Conference’s emergency motion against LSU on September 9, the courtroom sat empty. A court employee walked in and announced the hearing had been continued. No reason was given.

Alabama’s 42 News reporter Avery Boyce turned to Litson partner Ted Canter to explain what had just happened. Canter is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, the same district where the case is pending.

The SEC sued LSU in federal court in Birmingham after the school moved to add former NFL players to its football roster. Conference rules bar former pros from competing. The SEC asked the judge to keep LSU from interfering with a September 10 vote on its membership. That vote belongs to the conference’s presidents and chancellors.

Then a letter changed the picture. Alabama’s 42 obtained it through a public records request. Dated September 9, it came from LSU President Wade Rousse to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. Rousse wrote that LSU had told the conference in advance it would not place the players on the roster. The roster was locked for the season, he said, and LSU had complied with SEC rules.

Canter explained why that mattered. To win an emergency order, the party asking for it has to show irreparable harm. That means damage a court could not undo later.

“Part of the showing that you need to make there is that there’s going to be some irreparable harm,” Canter said. “What LSU essentially said is nothing imminent is going to happen. We filled our roster, and we are not going to get in the way of a vote tomorrow. And I think by doing that, they hoped to moot the issue.”

A moot issue is one a court no longer needs to decide because the dispute has resolved itself. As Canter put it, the whole point of the hearing was to keep LSU from taking legal action if the SEC voted it out. Once LSU said it would not stand in the way of the vote, the emergency the SEC described was largely gone.

The following day, SEC presidents and chancellors met without voting on LSU’s membership.

As a federal prosecutor in that district, Canter tried cases as first chair and led multi-agency investigations. At Litson, he represents companies and individuals in government investigations, regulatory enforcement, and high-stakes litigation. Earlier this year, he spoke on sports betting integrity at the IAGA International Gaming Summit.

Watch the full segment on Alabama’s 42: