The list was a spreadsheet seized by federal agents from Comprehensive Drug Testing in Long Beach, Calif., in April 2004. The agents had a search warrant for the testing records of 10 players involved with BALCO. When they saw the spreadsheet, agents obtained additional search warrants, copied the entire computer directory and took the records of all the players.

Test samples and records were to remain anonymous and be destroyed, but MLB and the players’ association couldn’t arrange for the destruction with the test companies between Nov. 13, 2003 — when the results were finalized — and that Nov. 19, when the union because aware of the subpoena.

The players’ association filed motions to get the records back and won in three U.S. District Courts. But a 9th circuit panel reversed in a 2-1 vote in December 2006, a decision the panel mostly reaffirmed its decision in January 2008.

The full 9th Circuit then threw out that panel decision and decided to have 11 judges hear the matter. It included five judges appointed by Bill Clinton, four by George W. Bush and one each by Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Oral arguments were heard in December, and it’s uncertain when a decision will be issued.

Slideshow   Baseball's steroid scandal See some of the key players and those implicated in steroid use. NBCSports.com

“I think it’s too close to call. These are very hard issues and they’re new issues. It’s really hard to predict,” said Orin S. Kerr, professor of law at The George Washington University Law School. “This is a lawyers’ battle for people that can hire very good lawyers, and that’s not true in most criminal cases.”

Prosecutors want to ask the wider group of players where they obtained steroids, which might advance investigations. The players’ association, citing privacy rights, claims the search violated the Fourth Amendment.

The case, which could wind up before the Supreme Court, might define what “plain view” means in the digital age. Or the 9th Circuit could decide it on procedural grounds.

“It really depends on how they write it. So this could be an extremely important case, and it could be a very narrow case,” Kerr said. “It’s an unusual case in that the information has value outside the criminal case, which is not normally the case.”

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