After listening to two hours of arguments by attorneys for the league and the NFL Players Association, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson took less than a minute to say he needed more time to review the case and prepare a decision.

He gave no indication from the bench when that might occur. However, his actions cleared the way for the Williamses to play Sunday at Detroit and for New Orleans players Deuce McAllister, Charles Grant and Will Smith to suit up when the Saints play host to Atlanta.

Magnuson denied the NFL's motion to dissolve the temporary restraining order Hennepin County Judge Gary Larson granted the Williamses on Wednesday, which allowed them to return to practice with the Vikings.

Magnuson also granted the union's demand for a federal injunction blocking the suspensions of the Saints players and the Williamses, who are plaintiffs in both cases.

After a four-month grievance process, the league suspended all five players Tuesday for testing positive for a diuretic containing Bumetanide, which is classified as a masking agent for steroids.

"I have less than two days to issue a major decision," Magnuson said about the clock ticking toward Sunday's kickoffs. "That's unfair."

Both sides claimed victory after Magnuson, who frequently interrupted the lawyers and challenged them to clarify their arguments, granted the players temporary clemency by setting aside their suspensions.

"We had a burden and we showed there are very serious questions about public policy, about the evident partiality of the arbitrator," Jeffery Kessler, lead attorney for the NFLPA, told reporters outside the courthouse in downtown St. Paul.

"Or else I don't believe he would have granted us any relief,"

Dan Nash, who argued the case for the NFL, declined to comment. After the hearing concluded at 1:50 p.m., the league issued a statement:

"Judge Magnuson made clear this afternoon that he needed more time to fully and carefully consider all of the briefs, arguments and cases put before him. We welcome that scrutiny.

"We are confident that, once he has had an opportunity to review all of the relevant materials, including the collective bargaining agreement, he will uphold our longstanding agreements with the NFLPA that protect the health and safety of NFL players and the integrity of our game."

The NFLPA lawsuit includes more than 400 pages of case law, transcripts and exhibits, including testimony from the players' arbitration hearings last month in New York.

The union accuses the NFL of fraud, negligence and violating public policy for suspending the players. It names defendants Dr. John Lombardo, administrator of the NFL's steroid policy; Dr. Bryan Finkle, a consulting toxicologist; and Adolpho Birch, vice president of law and labor policy for the league, who oversees the policy.

The trio work directly under Jeffrey Pash, the league's executive vice president and senior legal officer for Commissioner Roger Goodell.

The cases hinge on how much information about StarCaps, the brand-name product containing Bumetanide, league officials were required to share with the union and its players.

Finkle testified during the arbitration hearings that the league learned about Bumetanide in StarCaps in 2006 after an unidentified player tested positive for the banned substance.

Kessler argued that Finkle said he had a professional duty to tell Lombardo about his findings and to disclose the information to the union and its players.

Finkle testified Lombardo told him he did not disclose what he knew about StarCaps because he was unsure whether all of the company's products contained Bumetanide.

Moreover, Lombardo worried about exposing himself to a lawsuit for making public allegations against the supplement.

Kessler invoked the heatstroke death of former Vikings offensive lineman Korey Stringer in arguing the league had a responsibility to warn the NFLPA and its players about the health risks associated with Bumetanide.

"One of the risks of this particular ingredient is that it can lead to dehydration, which could, in the wrong person, lead to death," Kessler said.

The union also challenged the impartiality of Pash, the NFL lawyer charged with disciplining players under the steroids policy collective bargained by players and management.

The NFLPA vowed to fight for an independent arbitrator to take up those duties in negotiations for a new agreement after the current deal expires in 2011.

"I think impartial arbitration is appropriate in our steroids program," said Richard Berthelsen, acting executive director and general counsel of the NFLPA.

Meanwhile, the NFL argued that the Williamses and Saints players had their cases arbitrated in compliance with the current agreement. There was an initial ruling, the players appealed and were granted hearings last month in New York, and a final decision was made.

"They had every opportunity for a full and fair hearing," Nash said. "Now they're saying that hearing should be used against the league and allow us to keep stringing this process out."

When you strip away the rhetoric, Nash added, "The fundamental issue is they're disappointed that they lost."

The NFL contends the collective bargaining agreement does not require the league to issue warnings about specific products and argues an effective steroid policy requires players to be responsible for what they ingest.

Furthermore, the league in 2006 wrote team presidents, general managers and trainers, as well as NFLPA executive Stacy Robinson, that Balanced Health Products, the distributor of StarCaps, had been added to the NFL's endorsement list of banned supplement companies.

Peter Ginsberg, who represented the Williamses in federal court and in Hennepin County, ultimately wants their fate decided under Minnesota law.

He confirmed what the Pioneer Press reported Thursday, that the players might pursue claims under the state's employment drug-testing policies -- among the country's strictest -- and a statute protecting employees from being punished for consuming legal products.

"As we have more time and as we have an opportunity to take additional testimony it will become clearer that what the league did here is a violation of Minnesota laws," Ginsberg said. "Hopefully, Kevin and Pat can put all of this out of their minds and win on Sunday."