Judge rejects San Jose State volleyball player’s request to ban her from Mountain West tournament

A federal judge in Colorado on Monday rejected a request for emergency relief filed by a group of Mountain West volleyball players and a coach who wanted to declare a San Jose State player who they claimed was transgender ineligible for this week’s Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas.

The plaintiffs, including San Jose State player Brooke Slusser and suspended assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose. Lawsuit filed against Mountain West and commissioner Gloria Nevarez on Nov. 13claimed the school and conference violated the U.S. Constitution and Title IX by allowing a transgender athlete to play on a women’s sports team.

Judge Kato Crews denied the request, writing that the plaintiffs failed to show irreparable harm in part because they waited until two weeks before the Nov. 27-30 tournament to seek injunctive relief. He noted that the Mountain West’s policy toward transgender athletes has been in effect since 2022 and that San Jose State opponents began caving in on the issue two months ago.

“The court finds that the delay in filing this lawsuit and seeking emergency relief with respect to the MWC Tournament undermines its claims for irreparable harm,” Crews wrote.

Crews also wrote that the plaintiffs failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of their claim that a transgender athlete’s participation on a women’s sports team violated Title IX.

“The Acts’ Title IX theory advanced in this case directly conflicts with Title IX’s prohibition against discrimination against transgender individuals,” he wrote.

Slusser, who transferred to San Jose State ahead of the 2023 season, joined a federal lawsuit in September. NCAAHe publicly announced ‘s transgender policy and allegations regarding his teammate’s gender identity. In the lawsuit, Slusser said her teammate, who was also her roommate, “was born male and identifies as a ‘transgender woman,'” and that it came out to her during a conversation in April.

Slusser has since spoken to numerous media outlets about his experience with his teammate. Athletic Since the name of the athlete has not been disclosed to the public, the name of the athlete is not given. The school has not publicly confirmed whether the athlete is transgender. “No Defendant challenged SJSU’s rostering of a transgender female volleyball player,” Crews wrote in Monday’s decision.

Since Slusser first went public, five schools — Southern Utah, Utah State, Boise State, Wyoming and Nevada — have lost games against San Jose State since late September. Athletes from many of those schools are among the plaintiffs in the Mountain West lawsuit.

The plaintiffs alleged that the Mountain West waited until after the San Jose State incident came to light in September to issue a policy stating that a team that refused to compete against another member with an eligible transgender athlete would be forfeited and charged with a forfeit. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit alleged that the policy constituted a First Amendment violation that sought to suppress athletes’ ability to protest the alleged transgender athlete’s participation.

But the judge’s decision indicates the conference board approved it in 2022 and distributed it among schools at that time.

“The court also found that plaintiffs failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success on their First Amendment claims involving the TPP,” Crews wrote.

San Jose State said Monday that all of its student-athletes have the right to participate in their sports under NCAA and Mountain West Conference rules.

“We are pleased that the court rejected our eleventh-hour attempt to change these rules,” the statement said. “Our team is looking forward to competing in the Mountain West volleyball tournament this week.”

San Jose State is the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will play its first game Friday against the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 3 seed Utah State and No. 6 seed Boise State, both of whom have lost to SJSU during the season.

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