Federal appeals court upholds ruling to allow SJSU women's volleyball team member to play

DENVER (AP) — A federal appeals court upheld a ruling Tuesday 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. Magistrate S. Kato Crews in Denver. He rejected the request for an emergency injunction, finding 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 who 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 re-seeded based on the updated records.

The athlete has played for San Jose State since 2022, 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.

Injunctions are meant to preserve the status quo, Judge Crews said, and her playing is the status quo.

Crews’ ruling also said injunctions are meant to prevent harm, but in this case, he argued, the harm has already occurred. The games have been forfeited, the tournament has been seeded, the teams have made travel plans and the participants have confirmed they’re playing.

The appeals court ruling came after the players filed an emergency appeal of Crews’ order.

The tournament starts Wednesday in Las Vegas, but top-seeded Colorado State and second-seeded San Jose State have byes into Friday’s semifinal matches.