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 Within hours of the ruling, the NFL appealed the order vacating
Brady's four-game suspension.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman's decision in New York was a
major setback for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who had suspended
Brady for his alleged role in a scheme to deflate footballs used in
the Patriots' January playoff victory.
The league's appeal, which will likely take months to resolve,
ensures the litigation will continue to loom over the 2015 season.
"While the legal phase of this process continues, we look forward to
focusing on football and the opening of the regular season," Goodell
said in a statement.
Brady, 38, had been banned until an Oct. 18 clash with the
Indianapolis Colts, which would have cost him nearly $2 million in
salary. He is expected to start the Patriots' first game on Sept. 10
against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
 Shortly after the decision, the Patriots posted a picture on Twitter
of Brady pumping his fist in the air during a game.
"Tom Brady is a classy person of the highest integrity," Patriots
owner Robert Kraft said in a statement. "He represents everything
that is great about this game and this league."
Brady did not comment on the ruling, but his lawyer, Andrew
Tulumello, said, "We are gratified by the court’s decision and look
forward to Mr. Brady’s return to the playing field."
Patriots fans, Brady's teammates and Massachusetts politicians
reacted with glee to the news. New England running back LeGarrette
Blount said on Twitter, "Let's goooo TB12!!! This is gonna be a fun
season!!! 1st win of the year for #PatsNation."
Berman said Goodell's ruling was plagued by "several significant
legal deficiencies," including a failure to notify Brady beforehand
that his alleged conduct could be punished by suspension.
"The court finds that Brady had no notice that he could receive a
four-game suspension for general awareness of ball deflation by
others or participation in any scheme to deflate footballs," Berman
wrote.
The judge did not evaluate the underlying allegations, including
whether Brady knew of the scheme, saying it was not his role as
judge to review Goodell's factual findings. The ruling can be found
at http://bit.ly/1KtOh6L.
 For seven months, the controversy has dominated sports radio, made
national headlines and inspired nicknames like "Deflategate" and
"Ballghazi."
Brady was suspended over the footballs used in the Patriots' 45-7
postseason victory against the Colts that sent them to the Super
Bowl, where they defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28-24.
In May, Ted Wells, a lawyer the NFL hired to investigate the
incident, found it was "more probable than not" that Brady was
"generally aware" two low-level Patriots employees had conspired to
let air out of the footballs, which can make them easier to grip.
Wells' 243-page report, which cost more than $2.5 million, formed
the basis for Brady's suspension.
Berman, in addition to saying that Brady was not properly on notice
that he could face a ban, criticized Goodell for comparing the
quarterback's penalty to that given to steroid users.
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The judge also said Brady's lawyers were improperly barred from
cross-examining the NFL's general counsel, Jeff Pash, who helped
lead the Deflategate probe, and were unfairly denied access to
certain investigative notes.
The league has already fined the Patriots a record $1 million and
stripped the team of two draft picks, a penalty Kraft previously
said he would "reluctantly" accept rather than appeal.
Amid months of recriminations and lawsuits, the stakes had grown
beyond a mere four-game suspension. For the NFL and the union, the
case became a test of how broadly to interpret Goodell's authority
to discipline players under the players' collective bargaining
agreement with the league.
For Brady, the allegations threatened his legacy as one of the NFL's
all-time greats. Brady and his wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, are
one of the country's most visible celebrity couples.
Brady was drafted with the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL draft and
served as a backup for the Patriots before becoming the starter in
his second season, leading the franchise to its first championship
ever in 2002.
The quarterback is entering his 16th season and has played in six
Super Bowls, winning four.
The NFL and the union had engaged in settlement talks for weeks with
Berman, who urged them to find an acceptable solution. But a deal
never emerged.
It is rare for a federal judge to overturn an arbitrator's decision,
in part because the legal standard is quite stringent.
"The courts say pretty much, unless something goofy going on, we're
not going to intervene," said Alfred Yen, a Boston College Law
School professor.
The ruling is the latest setback for Goodell, who has seen other
punishments reduced or vacated on appeal, including in domestic
abuse cases involving players Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson and Greg
Hardy, as well as in the "Bountygate" case in which the New Orleans
Saints were accused of paying bonuses for injuring opposing team
players.
(Additional reporting by Nate Raymond; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing
by Jonathan Oatis and Alan Crosby)
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