In a ruling issued Thursday, federal judge Richard M. Berman vacated the NFL’s decision to suspend Tom Brady for four games, a penalty the league imposed for his alleged role in deflating footballs prior to games.
At its heart, the ruling was an indictment of the NFL’s arbitrary discipline process, where Commissioner Roger Goodell is permitted to serve as the arbiter under the league’s collective bargaining agreement.
Berman’s decision was based on three factors: 1. Goodell was never clear what, exactly, Brady was being punished for; 2. Goodell did not allow Brady’s legal team to examine one of the NFL’s chief investigators; and 3. Goodell did not give Brady full access to the investigative files.
In short, the process did not give Brady the ability to defend himself.
(The ruling does not take into account the substance of the charges. For the purposes of the decision, the judge assumed it was “more likely than not” Brady was involved in the deflation scheme, as Goodell found.)
In general, courts are very deferential to the results of arbitration processes agreed to by both parties but in this case, the judge found the flaws were too severe to ignore.
Berman also expressed concern about Goodell’s seemingly indiscriminate decision-making, citing “prior instances of players being implicated by equipment tampering, those players were fined, warned or not punished in any way.”
Sports Illustrated calls the ruling “one of the most significant legal defeats in the NFL’s history.”
This is the latest in a string of embarrassing defeats for Goodell and the NFL. Last year, a federal judge reinstated Ray Rice, who had been suspended indefinitely, to the NFL. Goodell claimed he increased an initial two game suspension to an indefinite suspension after receiving “new information” about the incident. The judge effectively determined that was untrue and that Rice had been completely truthful about what happened from the beginning.
Two of the NFL’s other high-profile discipline cases against Adrian Peterson and Greg Hardy were also successfully challenged in court or through appeal. According to ESPN, Hardy may seek a further reduction of his suspension in light of the Brady decision.
The NFL Players Association applauded Berman’s ruling in a statement, saying, “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.”
According to Andrew Brandt of ESPN, the NFL is planning to appeal Berman’s decision. If Thursday’s ruling stands, Brady would start in the season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers on September 10.