A number of physicians recently said that student athletes can suffer permanent brain damage if they have concussions while participating in school sports.
That is surely a risk that anyone would hope to minimize. In fact, it sounds like something that the states – working with parents and local school boards – might very well want to safeguard against with sensible rules and regulations.
But unfortunately, the doctors who warned of the dangers of concussions to high school athletes were not addressing state legislatures and local school boards. They were testifying before Congress, which may pass legislation that would impose rules about preventing concussions or handling them after they happen.
That’s the wrong solution to a real problem.
Congress has no authority under the Constitution to manage local policies on student athletes. That doesn’t mean that protecting athletes from serious risk of injury is not important. To the contrary, it’s very important. But it is properly the duty of state and local governments as well as parents, coaches, teachers and school administrators – not of Congress.