Ray Rice, domestic abuser, to be potentially reinstated by the NFL

Former NFL running back Ray Rice, who in September was banned from the league indefinitely for domestic abuse, is preparing for his reinstatement hearing next month.

Rice’s indefinite suspension stems from what the league is calling a violation of its personal conduct policy. The NFL went so far as to change its entire policy on domestic abuse stemming from criticism that Rice had received too lenient a punishment initially. His suspension was for two games–shorter than the suspensions of players caught with marijuana cigarettes.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Rice after video of him punching his fiancée in an elevator emerged. Rice is alleging that he was thus punished two times for the same infraction, which is a violation of league policy.

The hearing is scheduled to take place on November 5th and 6th. Former US District Judge Barbara S. Jones will be the arbiter in the case. Jones has ordered Commissioner Goodell to testify.

Goodell, who has made $210,000,000 (that’s two hundred and ten million dollars) since taking over as commissioner in 2006, has yet to state definitively whether he both received and viewed the elevator footage in the spring. Now that he’ll be under oath, it’s expected that at least some of the truth of Goodell’s involvement will come out.