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Berman said there is legal precedent for overturning the NFL’s four-game suspension and asked lawyers for the league why deflating footballs and lack of cooperation was punishable on the same terms as drug use. Goodell, who by contract with the players’ union can act...

In court documents, the union’s lawyers said the suspension was unfair and violates the labor contract and complained that it would cause irreparable harm to Brady by forcing him to miss games. An NFL lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The federal court hearing over Tom Brady’s four-game suspension may go on today without him. If there is no deal, the Manhattan judge has said he hopes to rule by September 4, six days before the Patriots host the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL’s season-opening game.

Brady has repeatedly said he knew nothing about a plot to deflate game balls.

During an open hearing in between closed-door negotiating sessions, Berman grilled Daniel Nash, an attorney representing the league, about a lack of solid evidence that the Patriots quarterback ordered balls to be deflated in the AFC Championship Game.