New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady filed a petition to appeal the four-game suspension handed down to him by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stemming from the “Deflategate” scandal a year and a half ago.
On Monday, Brady’s legal team submitted the request for a new hearing so he can make his case against the NFL to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
At issue, according to a tweet by USA Today’s Tom Pelissero showing the conclusion of Brady’s legal argument, is a “stark conflict with fundamental rules of labor law and … the rights of union members and employers alike.”
Tom Brady’s petition has officially been filed to the Second Circuit. Spoiler alert: here’s the conclusion. pic.twitter.com/PARozA0jUh
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 23, 2016
“The facts here are so drastic and so apparent that the court should rehear it,” Ted Olson, a former U.S. solicitor general and Brady’s lawyer, told ABC News.
Olson said that Goodell and the NFL “completely ignored the schedule of penalties for equipment-related violations,” which in his view should have amounted to nothing more than a fine.
Brady’s lawyers requested that the new hearing be held in front of the entire Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which consists of 13 judges. The alternative would have been to hear the case in front of a small panel of judges, as his first appeal was.
If fewer than seven of the 13 judges vote in favor of a rehearing, Brady can petition the U.S. Supreme Court to take his case.
The original suspension came from the NFL in May 2015, after an investigation that led the league to believe Brady was responsible for deflating footballs during the 2014-15 AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts, which could have given him an unfair throwing advantage. The Patriots won the game, 45-7.
The ruling was overturned, but in April, a panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Goodell had “properly exercised his broad discretion” in suspending Brady, and thus Brady must serve the four-game suspension for the 2016-17 NFL season.
Earlier Monday, before Brady announced his appeal, NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith went on the “Dan Patrick Show” and said the NFL’s attempt to enforce the suspension “borders on intellectual hypocrisy.”
On April 27, the NFL told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that it feels no need to reopen the Deflategate case and that “the time for those talks has come and gone.”
Brady’s lawyers continued to paint the four-time Super Bowl champion as a victim who just wants to get back on the gridiron.
“Tom has been enjoying a low-key off-season, spending time with his family and going through his normal routine to prepare for the coming season, but for now has to sit back and await his fate for the season,” they told ABC News.
