Supreme Court hands Brian Flores win in discrimination suit vs. NFL. What's next?

Brian Flores' four-year legal odyssey against the NFL took another significant step forward Tuesday when the Supreme Court opted not to review an appeals court's ruling that the league cannot use its typical preferred judiciary method - private arbitration - for the Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator's racial discrimination lawsuit against the league and multiple teams regarding the NFL's hiring practices.

The league has argued Flores' claims should be heard in private under league bylaws stipulating that disputes between a league employee and the league itself are handled in-house, with the head of the organization - commissioner Roger Goodell - ultimately responsible for processing and deciding claims.

The case would have been heard by Justice Brett Kavanaugh had the high court ultimately decided it would take the case.

According to a third amended complaint, filed by Flores' legal team May 19, 25 NFL teams have been served subpoenas, along with more than 1,000 discovery requests, in an attempt to obtain leaguewide hiring records and communications related to Flores' discrimination claims.

The NFL will have a chance to file its motion to dismiss the case by June 5, according to the briefing schedule approved by Judge Valerie E. Caproni of the Southern District of New York. Briefs from Flores' side are due July 20, and the league has until Aug. 19 to submit their own.

Brian Flores vs. NFL legal case timeline

Flores first submitted his lawsuit in February 2022 after being fired, despite back-to-back winning seasons, as head coach of the Miami Dolphins. His recently-amended complaint added that he has been retaliated against - by not being able to secure another head-coaching position - for suing the NFL. Four clubs are named as defendants along with the NFL - the Houston Texans, Miami Dolphins, New York Giants and Denver Broncos.

Flores spent the 2022 season with the Pittsburgh Steelers as an assistant and has been the Vikings' defensive coordinator since 2023. Minnesota had the fifth-ranked scoring defense in 2024, when the team went 14-3 in the regular season, and finished third in yards allowed per game in 2025.

Among his most explosive claims, Flores alleged that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered to pay him $100,000 per loss during the 2019 season (in an effort to secure a better draft pick) and that the New York Giants and Denver Broncos - both teams interviewed him in January 2022 following his firing by Miami - conducted sham" interviews with him to satisfy league rules requiring teams to meet with minority coaches for vacant head-coaching roles. The Texans were added to the lawsuit for the retaliation claim, with Flores stating that Houston didn't hire him because of the lawsuit.

Steve Wilks, another longtime defensive assistant in the NFL who coached the Arizona Cardinals for one season, and ex-NFL assistant Ray Horton also joined Flores' lawsuit as co-plaintiffs.

In 2023, a federal judge said some specific claims - such as the one against the Dolphins - could be heard under the NFL Constitution's arbitration process, but that the broader discrimination claims had to be heard in open court.

The league lost a similar argument in its defense for ex-Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden's lawsuit against the NFL in 2025, when the Nevada Supreme Court upheld a lower-court ruling allowing the case to move forward in court rather than being handled through private arbitration. Because Gruden was no longer a league employee upon filing the lawsuit, the NFL Constitution's arbitration provision did not apply, the court determined. That jury trial - in which Gruden is seeking $150 million in damages - is scheduled to begin in May 2027.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brian Flores vs. NFL lawsuit to move forward after Supreme Court decision: What's next?