Donaghy has accused N.B.A. executives and referees of broad misconduct, including the manipulation of game results.
Mr. Kelly was not about to reopen the debate over the merits of an idea proposed at the height of an epidemic of crack murders, at a time of revelations of broad misconduct in the department.
LOS ANGELES — N.B.A. executives and referees are accused of broad misconduct and outright manipulation of game results — including a highly disputed 2002 playoff series — in the latest court filing by the lawyer for the former referee Tim Donaghy.
Dough Holmes, president of the UWC, said that while many states might not have such broad misconduct statutes, legal cases have set standards for out-of-office behavior being considered misconduct if it reflects badly on a business.
Donaghy has said there was broad misconduct by other referees and by N.B.A. executives, accusing them of manipulating the outcome of games.
But criminal cases must be built on compelling evidence, not suppositions, and evidence of broad-based misconduct that would rise to that level doesn't exist, White said.
In explanation of his decision to overturn the suspensions, however, he said: "Unlike Saints' broad organizational misconduct, player appeals involve sharply focused issues of alleged individual player misconduct in several different aspects.
The case brings to 98 the number of rape and murder convictions overturned nationwide through the use of DNA evidence, and it also raises broader questions of misconduct by the police and prosecutors.
But Tagliabue, who conducted a hearing that included interviews of players, coaches and other league personnel, shifted the blame for the program almost entirely to the Saints, citing "broad organizational misconduct".
While President Bush has portrayed the events at Abu Ghraib as the actions of just a few soldiers at one prison, the picture emerging from documents, interviews and Congressional testimony points to a broader pattern of misconduct and knowledge about it stretching up the chain of command.
Application of the Alien Tort Claims Act, and a handful of similar laws, has extended beyond individual human cases to broader areas of misconduct, she said, citing as examples claims against corporations for environmental damage and for actions during the Holocaust.
