MINNEAPOLIS -- Saying federal judge David Doty should have deferred to the league's collective bargaining agreement, and arguing that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had the authority to levy whatever suspension he saw fit, the league asked the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn Doty's Feb. 26 decision that vacated Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson's suspension.

Peterson met with Goodell on Tuesday for the first time since the commissioner suspended him on Nov. 18. The running back pleaded no contest on Nov. 4 to misdemeanor reckless injury charges after injuring his son while disciplining him last May. He can be considered for reinstatement Wednesday. The NFL's appeal is not likely to be heard in court until long after Peterson's status has been resolved and Peterson could return to active status even before the NFL Players Association responds to the league's brief. The ongoing legal battle, instead, is over how much authority the commissioner should retain in disciplinary matters.

The NFL has filed an appeal arguing that commissioner Roger Goodell had the authority to levy whatever suspension he saw fit in the Adrian Peterson case. Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports

Doty ruled that the league should not have suspended Peterson under its toughened personal conduct policy, which was updated months after Peterson injured his son. He sent the case back to arbitrator Harold Henderson on Feb. 26 with orders to vacate Peterson's suspension; the NFL responded by putting Peterson back on the commissioner's exempt list, where he had been from Sept. 17 until Henderson upheld his suspension on Dec. 12.

In its appeal, the league said Doty's "disagreement with the arbitrator's merits, determination or underlying legal analysis does not entitle the court to substitute its own judgment."

The NFLPA has railed against the league's new personal conduct policy, saying it should have been changed in consultation with the union. The NFL has argued that the CBA gives Goodell the authority to handle player discipline how he sees fit. It pointed on Thursday to Judge Barbara Jones' ruling in the Ray Rice case that Goodell could have imposed an indefinite suspension, rather than the two-game ban that initially sparked heavy criticism over how the league handles player discipline.

Peterson, who missed 15 games last season, told ESPN in February that he was "still uneasy" about returning to the Vikings, saying the team did not support him sufficiently while deciding to put him on the exempt list in September. His agent, Ben Dogra, said last month it would be in Peterson's "best interests" to play for another team next season, though the Vikings have been adamant about their plans to bring the 30-year-old running back in 2015.