Tom Brady will appeal his four-game “Deflategate” suspension by the National Football League, seeking a second hearing before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court.
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Attorneys for Tom Brady want the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to rehear his case. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the only justice assigned to the Second Circuit, then would decide whether the high court will rehear the case.
Rehearing petitions are rarely granted, especially en banc petitions in this particular appeals court; the Second Circuit that traditionally awards the fewest among nation’s dozen appellate courts.
They are analyzing whether NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell strayed from labor law principles when punishing Brady, not the hard evidence.
In a split 2-1 decision last month, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in NY reversed a lower court’s ruling that threw out his penalty.
Olson, attorney for the NFL Players Association, told “Good Morning America ” that the appeal would be filed later Monday.
April’s decision had reversed a federal judge, Richard M. Berman, who had nullified Brady’s four-game suspension in September because of “several significant legal deficiencies” in how Goodell investigated accusations that footballs were below league-mandated minimum pressure levels at the AFC Championship Game in January 2015. A Supreme Court case could be months or years down the road. On Monday morning, Brady’s lawyer Ted Olson was asked about the possibility of a “stay” on ESPN’s “Mike and Mike” radio show.
The Brady legal team argues the judges failed to consider that in up-holding the suspension, Goodell used a different rationale that was applied when the n-f-l first reviewed the case a year ago. In doing so, Goodell did not even mention or discuss the collectively bargained penalties for equipment-related violations-the very misconduct he alleged.
The NFL Players Association said it will call for an “en banc” hearing before the court, which would be heard by all 13 judges rather than a select panel.
The legal tussle over Brady’s use of under-inflated footballs in the first half of the AFC title game at the end of the 2014 season drags on. Factoring in time for a decision if a rehearing is granted either by the original panel or the full Second Circuit, Brady’s suspension could be on hold at least through the summer.
So, there’s only one thing left to ask, really: Does Tom Brady have any shot in hell of actually winning this appeal?
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Chief Judge Katzmann, who was the lone judge to dissent in April, said that Goodell “exceeded his authority, to Brady’s detriment, by resting Brady’s discipline on factual findings not made in the Wells Report”.
