The NCAA on Thursday scored a significant legal victory when the Supreme Court of Mississippi ruled for the association in a case brought by former Ole Miss assistant athletic director Barney Farrar that challenged the constitutionality of the NCAA’s sanctions against then-coach Hugh Freeze’s football program.

NCAA v. Farrar strengthens the NCAA’s longstanding legal position that, as a private membership organization where member schools and conferences voluntarily join, it has the contractual right to adopt and enforce compliance rules that govern the conduct of member institutions and their staff.