Unhappy with the Second Circuit’s decision in April to uphold the four game suspension handed down to star quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots for his role in the 2014 Deflategate scandal, the National Football League Players’ Association filed a petition for rehearing en banc with the Second Circuit on Monday, May 23, 2016. The filing comes as no surprise to most, and follows the appellate court’s 2-1 decision to overturn a New York federal judge’s ruling that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell overstepped his boundaries under the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players’ association when he hit Brady with the suspension back in 2015.
Monday’s petition requests the entirety of the Second Circuit Judicial Panel, thirteen justices in all, to rehear the case together. Responsively, it would take the agreement of at least seven judges (a simple majority of the panel) for the rehearing to continue. If that fails, Brady and the NFLPA may appeal directly to the Supreme Court of the United States — although, success on that level is unlikely, as the Court only hears a small handful of the thousands of petitions it receives every year.
In the petition, the NFLPA argues many of the same repeated claims it has made for more than a year now — that Commissioner Goodell exceeded his role under the CBA by acting as an independent arbitrator in the case, thus treating Brady (who is, albeit, one of the most popular and protected players in the league) unfairly in suspending him. As well, petitioners argue that Brady did not receive proper notice under the express provisions cited to in the CBA and the NFL rulebook that he is said to have violated, i.e., “equipment tampering.” Petitioners believe that they were unaware, nor given proper notice, that Brady could be punished with anything more severely than a simple fine for participating in a scheme to deflate game balls.
Further, the petition makes broad argument on behalf of all unionized workers generally, as opposed to just football players bashing heads with their governing body; these types of urgings tend to be both popular and persuasive amongst higher level appellate courts across the nation, who want to rule on broader principles as opposed to specific, case-by-case examples.
While no timeframe has yet been scheduled for which to expect a Second Circuit ruling on the matter, odds are that a decision will be swift so as to avoid an even more drawn-out legal battle as we move closer to the beginning of the 2016 NFL season in September and the start of Brady’s already once-upheld suspension.
You can read the petition for rehearing in its entirety here.