The Southeastern Conference (SEC) filed an amended complaint Tuesday morning in an Alabama federal court, showing it’s prepared to take the extraordinary step of expelling LSU from the conference.

The conference presidents have scheduled a vote on whether to expel the Tigers from the league, stemming from the school’s potential to add former NFL players to its football roster.

The SEC amended the federal lawsuit it filed against LSU last week, asking a judge to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the school from interfering with the scheduled meeting of university presidents and chancellors.

ESPN shared further:

The SEC is not expected to take such action, but the filing indicates the seriousness of the league as it attempts to affirm the legal right to enforce its own rules.

LSU has declined comment.

In the filing, the SEC said its presidents and chancellors will meet Thursday to decide whether to terminate LSU as an SEC member institution pursuant to Section 3.1.5 of the SEC Constitution and Bylaws, which gives the presidents the “plenary power and authority with respect to all affairs of the Conference of any type or nature whatsoever,” including the power to “[t]ake all actions specified and contemplated in Article 3 [of the Constitution] in their sole discretion.”

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Under SEC rules, a vote of at least two-thirds of all the presidents is required to terminate a school’s membership.

The lawsuit argued that the school was preventing SEC officials from “exercising their First Amendment rights to govern the conference,” Fox News noted.

“The SEC and its member universities have the right to establish, through agreed-upon governance procedures, the rules under which they voluntarily compete and to expect those rules to be followed,” the SEC said in a statement, according to ESPN.

“A commitment to those rules, and to the core principles of the Southeastern Conference, is an essential element of SEC membership,” it continued.

“Today’s filing is necessary to defend that right and preserve the Conference’s ability to govern competition among its members,” the statement added.

“The SEC does not bring this action to declare any student-athlete ineligible or to prevent any student-athlete from participating in any athletic competition. This action is directed solely at the state actors who have violated, continue to violate, and threaten to further violate the SEC’s rights under the First Amendment,” the complaint read, according to Fox News.

Fox News has more:

The fight is now moving beyond the courtroom.

On Thursday, SEC officials will hold a special meeting to determine whether LSU could face expulsion from the conference. The meeting centers on concerns that school officials have lost control of Kiffin and the football program.

In the filing, SEC presidents and chancellors made it clear during a Sept. 4 meeting that they feel as though LSU has let Lane Kiffin run the football program however he wants, without guidance from the athletic department.

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“Expressed great concern that Defendants Rousse and Ausberry have no meaningful control over Defendant Kiffin or the football program at LSU…The consensus at the September 4 meeting was and continues to be that LSU’s demonstrated lack of institutional control at the University level—including complete lack of control over Defendant Kiffin’s actions.”

Simply put, the SEC feels as though the comments made by Kiffin over the past few weeks regarding this matter go against conference rules, and they feel as though the LSU athletic department has allowed Kiffin to run the football program without pressure from his own bosses.

Will this actually take place?

That’s up to the member institutions, though the likelihood of the SEC expelling LSU from the conference feels pretty slim in the grand scheme of things.

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