Appeals court upholds San Jose State volleyball ruling for MW tourney - ESPN

DENVER — On Tuesday, a federal appeals court upheld a ruling that allows a San Jose State women's volleyball team member to play in this week's Mountain West Conference tournament after a legal complaint said she should be ineligible on grounds that she is transgender.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews in Denver. He rejected the request for an emergency injunction, finding that the players and others who challenged the league's policy for allowing transgender athletes to participate should have filed the complaint earlier.

The players also asked that four teams that had conference losses for refusing to play against San Jose State during the regular season have those losses removed from their records and that the tournament be reseeded based on the updated records.

The athlete in question has played for San Jose State for the past three seasons, but her participation only became an issue this season. The conference policy regarding forfeiting for refusing to play against a team with a transgender player has also been in effect since 2022, the conference said.

The volleyball player has not spoken about her identity, and San Jose State has not commented on her identity due to federal privacy laws. ESPN is not naming the player.

In his ruling Monday, Crews did not weigh the fairness or safety issues that the plaintiffs allege in the lawsuit. Instead, he ruled that the emergency nature of the hearing was unnecessary because the Mountain West's transgender participation policy had been in place since 2022 and that the forfeiting teams were aware of the policy.

Injunctions are meant to preserve the status quo, Crews said, and the athlete in question playing is the status quo.