The long national nightmare is still with us.
One of the attorneys for New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady indicated on Good Morning America that his side will appeal the four-game suspension that was reinstated by the Second Circuit United States Court of Appeals earlier this spring.
This all stems from the NFL determining that Brady played a role in the improper inflation of footballs prior to a playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts in January of 2015.
Brady was initially suspended four games for his alleged involvement in the “Deflategate” scandal, only to see said suspension overturned by the courts. Once the appeals court sided with the NFL earlier this year, Brady’s next step was always going to be an attempt to get the case heard by the whole court.
That’s exactly what Brady’s lawyer, the famed Ted Olson, told the early-morning ABC talk show on Monday:
“Our two primary arguments are that the commissioner in the first place conducted an investigation and then the commissioner imposed discipline. Then the commissioner appointed himself as an appellate judge or an arbitrator and then decided something new in the appellate process, abandoning the grounds that were the original basis for the supposed discipline,” Olson said, via CBS Sports. “That’s No. 1, and an appellate judge is supposed to look at the record and make a decision on the basis of what happened before. He departed from what happened before. Secondly he ignored important provisions of the CBA about discipline that might be imposed for equipment violations. He departed from that completely and went off the track.”
The addition of Olson to Brady’s legal team could be a sure-fire sign that the quarterback will look to take this to the highest court should this latest bid fail.
Olson has argued over a dozen cases in the United States Supreme Court, most notably a successful foray into the court while representing then presidential candidate George W. Bush in “Bush v. Gore” during the 2000 presidential election.
He served as the Solicitor General of the United States under Bush and Assistant Attorney General in the Reagan Administration.
What does this all mean? If a full appeals court hearing is granted, Brady will likely see his four-game suspension stayed until the case is settled. This means the issue would drag on beyond the 2016 season.
If it’s not granted, there’s no reason to believe that Brady and his team won’t take this to the highest court.