Giambi to Meet with George Mitchell

Good comments from Michael Dorf about Major League Baseball's request/command/demand that Jason Giambi meet with George Mitchell to discuss Giambi's past steroid use. Mike focuses on two concerns: 1) whether Giambi ever admitted to using steroids after the point that MLB outlawed them and 2) whether Giambi is placing himself in danger of criminal prosecution by talking to Mitchell (implicitly, whether Giambi should or might assert his Fifth Amendment privilege).

More troubling, MLB says "discipline will be determined after Giambi has completed activities" with the Mitchell investigators. The implication seems to be that Giambi's punishment will decrease as his cooperation increases--in other words, the more willing he is Giambi to admit his past misdeeds and to identify other past steroid users. Alternatively, if Giambi were to plead the Fifth, one could imaging MLB ratcheting up the discipline because, by protecting himself from possible prosecution, Giambi has not been "cooperative."

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