“Not when the NFL has signed a contract saying it CANNOT do those things. Contracts are a part of the law.”
But a contract can also spell out that between two parties, one party has the authority to render discipline on the members of the other party. This Judge has held that, in effect, forget what your contract says, I am going to tell you what needs to go down in the relationship between the parties. I am going to define it.
So then, why even have a collective bargaining agreement? Why bother if some Judge can simply not like what it says and impose his or her own standards? Its a tax, its not a tax, sound familiar?
The judge didn’t make up anything. Under the CBA, the NFL could fine Brady, but could not suspend him. They decided to suspend him in violation of their contract with the player’s union. The NFL ignored the penalty they could impose and imposed one their contract did not allow. At least, that is how it looked when I skimmed thru the decision.