[TXSTYLE]

***BREAKING***

Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott granted preliminary injunction, likely to play entire season!!!

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dal...-entire-season

The ruling is in.

Federal judge Amos Mazzant, of the Eastern District of Texas, ruled Friday to grant Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott a preliminary injunction. It prevents the NFL from enforcing its six-game suspension of Elliott.

The decision means Elliott will play beyond Sunday's season opener against the New York Giants, which he was already approved to play.

Elliott will likely play the rest of the season because of the decision.
— Kate Hairopoulos (@khairopoulos) September 8, 2017

According to SportsDay Cowboys insider Kate Hairopoulos, Mazzant said the question he needed to consider is whether Elliott received a fundamentally fair hearing before the arbitrator in Elliott's NFL appeal. Mazzant ruled he did not. The key involved Elliott's and the NFL Players Association's claims that the NFL sanitized the opinions of investigator Kia Roberts, who conducted all of the interviews during the investigation, including those of accuser Tiffany Thompson. Arbitrator Harold Henderson did not require Thompson to appear at last week's arbitration hearing, or demand inclusion of Roberts' notes about her interviews with Thompson. It's also unclear, the judge ruled, what Commissioner Roger Goodell, who issued the suspension, knew about Roberts' opinion.

Judge: Elliott was denied a fundamentally fair hearing by Henderson’s
refusal to allow Thompson and Goodell to testify at the arbitration
— Kate Hairopoulos (@khairopoulos) September 8, 2017

The NFL Players Association issued a statement after the decision blasting the league's integrity and noting the commissioner's discipline will "continue to be a distraction from our game" until NFL owners bargain a more fair process.

Our statement on today's ruling on the temporary restraining order in the Ezekiel Elliott case: pic.twitter.com/g46h7qh2GI
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) September 8, 2017

Mazzant held a hearing Tuesday in Sherman when both sides argued for and against the stay. If the NFL appeals, it's likely Elliott will remain on the field for the rest of this season while his lawsuit is decided. The NFL could also immediately appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and ask for a stay of Mazzant's order.

Here was his full ruling from Friday afternoon:

Injunction Order by The Dallas Morning News on Scribd

Goodell announced on Aug. 11 a six-game suspension for Elliott, who the league found to have caused physical injury to former girlfriend Tiffany Thompson on three incidents in July 2016 in Columbus, Ohio. Elliott has denied and fought the claims.

Henderson on Tuesday night denied Elliott's NFL appeal, which leaves the court system as his last venue to fight the discipline. Elliott filed a suit to vacate any NFL discipline last week.