Sept. 03--A federal judge on Thursday erased New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's four-game suspension for the "Deflategate" controversy.
U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman wrote in his opinion that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's handling of Brady's case was "fundamentally unfair" and was "premised upon several significant legal deficiencies." Brady has insisted he played no role in any decision to deflate footballs below the allowable limit before last season's AFC championship game.
The decision, which frees Brady to play in the Patriots' Sept. 10 season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, is a blow to the authority of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to hear the appeals of penalties he has imposed, and could lay the groundwork for a fundamental change in the way the league interacts with the players.
Goodell released a statement on the ruling, shortly before the league filed an appeal.
"We are grateful to Judge Berman for hearing this matter, but respectfully disagree with today's decision," Goodell said. "We will appeal today's ruling in order to uphold the collectively bargained responsibility to protect the integrity of the game. The commissioner's responsibility to secure the competitive fairness of our game is a paramount principle, and the league and our 32 clubs will continue to pursue a path to that end. While the legal phase of this process continues, we look forward to focusing on football and the opening of the regular season."
NFL Players Assn. executive director DeMaurice Smith supported the ruling.
"This decision should prove, once and for all, that our Collective Bargaining Agreement does not grant this Commissioner the authority to be unfair, arbitrary and misleading," Smith said in a statement. "While the CBA grants the person who occupies the position of Commissioner the ability to judiciously and fairly exercise the designated power of that position, the union did not agree to attempts to unfairly, illegally exercise that power, contrary to what the NFL has repeatedly and wrongfully claimed."
Patriots owner Robert Kraft said in a statement: "As I have said during this process and throughout his Patriots career, Tom Brady is a classy person of the highest integrity. He represents everything that is great about this game and this league. Yet, with absolutely no evidence of any actions of wrongdoing by Tom in the Wells report, the lawyers at the league still insisted on imposing and defending unwarranted and unprecedented discipline. Judge Richard Berman understood this and we are greatly appreciative of his thoughtful decision that was delivered today. Now, we can return our focus to the game on the field
The NFL has been on a losing streak lately when it comes to getting original suspensions to stick. The high-profile discipline cases involving players Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson and Greg Hardy were all successfully challenged on appeal or in court.
"The kind of review and reversal he's getting with almost drumbeat consistency is very different than that which is accorded arbitrators," said Stanford law professor William B. Gould IV, former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. "That suggests to me that the NFL is going to have to renegotiate their procedures and perhaps the issue of who is the final authority.
"Because the kind of sweeping review that this court seems to have given Goodell's decision is the same approach already provided in these two recent decisions -- Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson -- and suggest that the courts don't owe the least deference to his decisions."
Berman had engaged both sides for weeks in hopes of forging a settlement, but the NFL and the NFL Players Assn. had reached an impasse.
In May, Goodell suspended Brady for the first four games of the 2015 season because of the quarterback's alleged involvement in what the league believes was a scheme to deflate footballs in January's AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. Underinflated footballs are easier to throw and catch.
Brady has long denied involvement in any such scheme, and the Patriots have argued that the league summarily dismissed any scientific explanation for any of the game balls measuring under the minimum of 12.5 pounds of air pressure per square inch.
As Super Bowl champions, the Patriots play host to Pittsburgh in the Kickoff Opener on Sept. 10 in Foxborough, Mass. The availability of Brady, a two-time NFL Most Valuable Player, had been a big concern for the Patriots, who had been preparing second-year backup Jimmy Garoppolo to take over in Brady's anticipated absence
However, there is a larger issue at play for the NFL. The players' union has long argued that Goodell should not have the authority to both dole out punishments and hear subsequent appeals. The league argues that arrangement was agreed to as part of the collective bargaining agreement.
That's what happened in the Brady case, as Goodell issued the suspension in May and this summer heard the appeal, which included 10 hours of meetings with the quarterback. Revealed in those depositions was that Brady instructed someone who works for him to destroy his cellphone. He had declined to make his text messages available to investigator Ted Wells, who was hired by the NFL to prepare a report on the situation.
Brady wasn't the only person punished as part of the so-called Deflategate controversy. Goodell also fined the Patriots $1 million and stripped them of a first-round pick next year and a fourth-round selection in 2017. The fine is tied for the largest in NFL history, matching one imposed on former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo in 1999 for his role in a Louisiana riverboat gambling scandal.
The football-deflation case marked the second time in eight years the Patriots have been accused of cheating. In 2007, they were caught improperly videotaping the sideline hand signals of New York Jets coaches. That incident, nicknamed Spygate, cost New England Coach Bill Belichick $500,000 -- the maximum allowable fine at the time -- and the league docked the Patriots a first-round draft pick.
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UPDATE
8:39 a.m.: Adds comments from Stanford law professor William B. Gould IV.
9:46 a.m.: Adds statement from Roger Goodell.
10:56 a.m.: Adds statement from Robert Kraft.
1:17 p.m.: Adds statement from DeMaurice Smith. Indicates that NFL has filed its appeal.
This post was originally published at 7:29 a.m.
