The NFL has won the latest round in its Deflategate legal battle, and Tom Brady is once again suspended for the first four games of the season.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled that the NFL does indeed have the authority to suspend Brady, overturning a lower court ruling and reinstating the four-game suspension that Brady was originally handed last year.
The league’s findings in the Deflategate investigation were that Brady was more probable than not to have ordered the Patriots’ equipment staff to deflate footballs below the minimum level of 12.5 psi. Brady has insisted that he did no such thing.
There have been so many twists and turns in the Deflategate saga that no one should assume it’s over, but at the moment the NFL has won and Brady has lost, and the Patriots appear set to start the season without their star quarterback.
