Judge overturns Tom Brady’s ‘Deflategate’ suspension

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman made many New England Patriots fans very happy when he ruled that the four-game suspension handed down to Brady was baseless.

The suspension came after an independent report found that Brady was generally aware that footballs were purposely deflated—a violation of NFL rules.

Few may be happier than Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who issued the following statement:

As I have said during this process and throughout his Patriots career, Tom Brady is a classy person of the highest integrity. He represents everything that is great about this game and this league. Yet, with absolutely no evidence of any actions of wrongdoing by Tom in the Wells report, the lawyers at the league still insisted on imposing and defending unwarranted and unprecedented discipline. Judge Richard Berman understood this and we are greatly appreciative of his thoughtful decision that was delivered today. Now, we can return our focus to the game on the field.

The basis for Berman’s ruling was three-fold: