Former Solicitor General Heads Tom Brady’s Deflategate Appeal

NFL quarterback Tom Brady brought on a powerful lawyer to fight a four-game suspension that a federal appeals court recently reinstated. The New England Patriots player was accused of knowing that footballs were under-inflated during a playoff game in 2014, contrary to league rules. The NFL punished Brady with the suspension, but a Circuit Court judge ruled that the league had overstepped its authority. A federal appeals court last week disagreed, and reinstated the suspension. Now Brady has enlisted Gibson Dunn & Critcher partner Ted Olson, former U.S. Solicitor General in such cases as Citizens United and Bush v. Gore, to seek an en banc rehearing. The move suggests Brady believes the matter may go all the way to the nation’s highest court.