According to aBoston Globe article, during Thursday’s hearing Judge Barrington Parker commented on the issue of Brady destroying his cell phone during the NFL’s Deflategate investigation, observing that he did not believe the four-time Super Bowl Champion’s claim.
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NEW YORK, N.Y. – A federal appeals panel in New York is questioning NFL attorneys on why the simple act of deflating footballs warranted the four-game suspension the league gave New England quarterback Tom Brady.
In September, district judge Richard M. Berman vacated the suspension and Brady was able to play throughout the 2015 season.
If Berman’s ruling is upheld, it appears that the National Football League could continue to appeal.
Kessler was especially targeted with the questions, as Judge Chin pointed out that evidence of ball tampering was “compelling, if not overwhelming”, ESPN reports.
“With all due respect, Mr. Brady’s explanation of that made no sense whatsoever”, Parker said.
The league also is expected to take the case to the Supreme Court if the appeals panel rules in favor of Brady because the NFL considers the case a grave threat to Goodell’s authority under the collective bargaining agreement. But it was no comparison to the interrogation Kessler and the players union faced just minutes later. The judges won’t rule for a couple of months, but the tone of their questions during the oral arguments of National Football League attorney Paul Clement and then Kessler was overwhelmingly much tougher on Kessler.
The NFL Management Council and the NFLPA battled it out in court one more time in the slow crawl toward a resolution to the Deflategate case, this time at the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in downtown Manhattan. The NFL lawyers got grilled by Berman the same way last summer, and that did end up telegraphing his decision.
On the possibility that Thursday’s discussions in the courtroom won’t affect the judges’ final decision: “It is possible that much of yesterday could have been for naught, that it could have been their own curiosity about facts, about a story – and frankly, the judges know that this is a rare hearing that’s going to get a lot of media attention”. He said Brady “had no notice that his discipline would be the equivalent of the discipline imposed upon a player who used performance enhancing drugs”.
But Parker was more dogged in attacking Kessler’s case, and Chin had many more questions about the NFLPA’s argument than he did the NFL’s.
“I think Brady is staring down the barrel of a 2-1 defeat”, said Daniel Wallach, a Florida attorney and sports law expert who was in court Thursday and has been paying close attention to the case. “The judges are aware for the start of the 2016 National Football League season, and Chief Judge Robert Katzman, at the conclusion of the hearing, made sure the parties understood the courts are all about expedition”.
Berman overruled that, saying Goodell’s punishment was unfair.
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Based on tax filings for the NFL, Roger Goodell has been compensated more than $150 million in salary and bonuses in his first eight years since becoming commissioner.
