Federal appeals court judges seemed likely to restore New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game suspension for the scandal known as Deflategate after spending time Thursday shredding some of his union’s favorite arguments for dismissal. The NFL punished the Patriots, as we all know, by taking their first round pick this year, their fourth round pick next year, and one million dollars from [Patriots owner] Robert Kraft.
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According to a Sports Illustrated report, the focus of Thursday’s hearing will not be on Brady or Goodell, or even the science of ball inflation. Judge Richard Berman ruled Brady received inadequate notice of his alleged misconduct and potential discipline and determined Brady was denied opportunities to question one of the league’s lead investigators. “How do we as appellate judges second-guess a four-game suspension?” Brady remained eligible to play and led the Patriots to a 12-4 record and into the 2015 playoffs where the team lost the AFC Championship to the Broncos.
“Goodell is effectively the judge, the juror and executioner”, Parker told National Football League attorney Paul Clement, though he quickly added that executioner “is not the right word”. The judges quizzed Kessler about Brady’s destruction of his cell phone, saying “the cell phone issue raised the stakes”.
“Commissioner Goodell may be said to have dispensed his own brand of industrial justice”, Berman wrote, calling parts of the National Football League probe “fundamentally unfair”.
A decision in the appeal is not expected before the NFL Draft at the end of April but could be later in the summer as neither side in the case has asked for an expedited hearing.
It is uncertain whether the NFL would reinstitute the suspension for the 2016 season if the league’s appeal is successful. In the following months, the saga took turn after turn, some sordid, some unexpected, all followed closely by a rapt audience of football fans all too ready to see the once unstoppable Patriots knocked from their perch atop the NFL world – the Pats did what they could to put the issue aside and did eventually emerge with a Super Bowl XLIX victory.
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The essence of the NFL’s appeal is that Berman did not apply the law properly in overturning Brady’s suspension.
