Appeals court grants stay to Cowboys' Ezekiel Elliott, who can play vs. Chiefs

The courts have intervened a third time to keep  Dallas Cowboys star running back Ezekiel Elliott in the lineup. 

An appeals court granted Elliott a stay and an expedited appeal on Friday, an order that means Elliott will remain eligible to play at least through Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs. 

“We note that the issuance of an administrative stay does not constitute a resolution on the merits,” Susan L. Carney, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, wrote in Friday’s filing.

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On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Polk Failla denied Elliott a preliminary injunction and, a day later, also denied a motion to stay that decision requested by lawyers from the NFL Players Association. A judge in the court had approved a temporary restraining order that had kept the NFL from suspending Elliott the past two weeks. 

On Wednesday, lawyers for Elliott requested an emergency injunction from the federal appeals court, the latest legal maneuver in an attempt to avoid a six-game suspension over domestic violence allegations.

In the motion, attorneys for the NFLPA also asked for an expedited appeal and requested a stay of Monday’s decision that effectively allowed the NFL to impose the ban.

Judge Amos L. Mazzant approved the first injunction in the case that has allowed Elliott to play in each of the Cowboys' first seven games, although the decision by the Texas judge was eventually vacated by another appeals court and the case was dismissed. That led to the case shifting to New York.

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