MINNEAPOLIS — A federal appeals court agreed Tuesday to fast track the NFL’s request to put its labor lockout in place until a new deal is finally worked out.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis set a June 3 hearing, with 30 minutes of oral argument for each side, before Judges Duane Benton, Kermit Bye and Steven Colloton.

U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson issued her injunction stopping the lockout on April 25 and denied the NFL’s appeal two days later. The league appealed to the 8th Circuit, and the same three-judge panel issued a temporary stay of Nelson’s order on Friday.

The lockout was put back in place by the owners a few hours later. The 8th Circuit is still deciding whether to make the stay more permanent, until the appeals process can play out.

Under the appeals schedule set up Tuesday, the league’s opening brief is due May 9 and the players must file their response brief by May 20. The NFL’s reply to the response is due May 26.

The appeals court’s approval of an expedited stay gave the NFL at least some relief from the stern rebuke Nelson delivered.

In denying the NFL’s request for a stay, Nelson wrote last week that the league “offered little, if any, evidence to directly rebut” evidence from the players they’re being irreparably damaged by the lockout, the key requirement for a decision to lift it.

Nelson also wrote that, without a motion for an expedited appeal, the NFL’s argument assuming the 8th Circuit will rule before the 2011 begins “seems unlikely.”

Court-ordered mediation between the two sides is set to resume May 16.