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The New York Times has the latest on the doping case in California. In a 9-to-2 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that prosecutors improperly seized drug tests for about 100 major league baseball players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, writing for the majority, called the seizure an “obvious case of deliberate overreaching by the government.” Click here for a copy of the opinion, which was published Wednesday.

Authorities from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California seized the tests in 2004, hoping to use them to question players about their suppliers in a wider investigation into steroid distribution. The Major League Baseball Players Association has been fighting to have the drug-testing information destroyed.

The Justice Department, which declined to comment on the ruling, must now decide whether to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the past year, players Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were outed in news reports as having tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003.