Semi-OT: NFL beefs up Deflategate legal team

The NFL has added former Solicitor General (and considered to be one of the top SCOTUS lawyers) Paul Clement and Erin Murphy (also a successful SCOTUS litigator) to its Deflategate appeals team.

Paul D. Clement — Bancroft
Erin E. Murphy — Bancroft

shoot, paul clement is a former solicitor general. he's one of the best.

Makes sense they'd continue to pursue this now that it's clear from Brady's play with fully inflated balls that he was never really that good

Brady will be fine. Trust me... I'm a law student.

But seriously, they are going all in. I'm curious to see how this goes down.

YAAAAAHHH. Keep pumping that money into legal expenses for a case against a guy you framed that you will lose instead of spending it on stuff that really matters.

When you face an uphill battle to win, you gotta double down on your legal team.

And based on how embarrassing their legal team was in front of Judge Berman, they need all the help they can get.

It's so weird that this is so personal to them.

You can have the best lawyer in the world but if your case is not good you are in trouble.

I don't see how any lawyer can win this appeal. It was ruled on in such a way overturning it seems near impossible.

On the bright side we get to again defeat Goddell and laugh at him.

The ship has sailed. They should have employed these folks BEFORE going in front of Berman. Berman was disgusted (as evidenced by his use of quotations around "independent" every time he used the word) that the NFL would come in front of him claiming to have conducted an "independent" investigation, but represented in the appeal by the same firm that authored their "independent" report. That is serious hubris or serious not knowing what your are doing. Either way, the damage is done and these folks won't be able to undo the ruling. Just more $$ wasted by the NFL.

i think worst comes to worst the case gets sent back to Berman and berman finds another reason to shove it in goodell's face....

Elijah said:

It's so weird that this is so personal to them.

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Its not personal.....it's strictly business.

As has been discussed 1000 times, this is no longer about Brady and footballs.

The NFL absolutely cannot have the NFLPA with any leverage on anything- especially it's ability to discredit the NFL's ability to hand out punishment without due process.

To the NFL, dropping another $2-$3m on legal fees is less than the hundreds of millions of dollars it stands to lose in another CBA where things like discipline are horse traded away in exchange for a greater % of the revenue to the players.

The NFL wants all the chips.

If people don't realize by now that air pressure has no effect on Tom Brady then they have issues that go far beyond intelligence and comprehension.

so how does this effect the appeals process.? just curious?

TommyBrady12 said:

i think worst comes to worst the case gets sent back to Berman and berman finds another reason to shove it in goodell's face....

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Thats the current motion. They'll appeal it and it gets sent back to Berman. Berman pulls out one of the other 3 issues he chose not to rule on and rules in favor of Brady again, NFL appeals, again...

Wash, Rinse, Dry, Repeat.

"Bring it on!"

SVN said:

so how does this effect the appeals process.? just curious?

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You have attorneys with bigger reputations and political connections making the same legal arguments.

I don't see why the NFL just doesn't settle this -- a fine for failure to cooperate and move on to fight the next battle.

But then, I've never understood the NFL's action. Am I that far out there to think that if the NFL were a district attorney's office, the case would have been thrown out for prosecutorial misconduct? Leaking and failure to correct false and prejudicial information, and lying in a document?

My take is they are going for the big win -- a ruling in their favor that says the NFL is investigator, judge, jury and executioner and the players only have very limited ability to defend themselves. Basically, a dictatorship.

For now, this just falls in the category of "Hmm...that's interesting."

Clement was appointed by Bush 43 as Solicitor General in 2004 at the age of 38 and regularly appears on Conservatives wishlists of SCOTUS nominees. Murphy is his protege and successfully argued the landmark McCutcheon Campaign Finance case before the Court, with Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas and Scalito in the majority and Breyer, Ginsburg, Kagan and Sotomayor in the minority.

I don't know what this means, but, before I dismiss it as just more bluster from the NFL throwing good money after bad, I am curious as to whether any of you who have been following this more closely than myself know which Judges from the Second Circuit have been designated to hear the case, if they have yet been designated? Clement and Murphy would carry a lot of weight with any Bush 41 or 43 appointees.

Elijah said:

It's so weird that this is so personal to them.

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It's beyond weird. It's downright creepy and disturbing.

This isn't about Brady as much as it is the NFL's ability to run sham arbitration hearings and have them stick. The NFL lost too many cases to outside arbiters and now wants Goodell to be able to dole out punishment and appeal hearings, as they argue is in the Collectively Bargained Agreement. The CBA, however interpreted, does not sign away federal labor laws. Goodell is required to act impartially, establish rules and punishment before he punishes for them, and allow defendents similar rights they would receive in court.

Goodell will try to take this to the Supreme Court.