Trans SJSU Volleyball Player Eligible For Mountain West Tournament As Judge

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The Mountain West Conference volleyball tournament will proceed as planned – and feature transgender San Jose State player Blaire Fleming – after a federal judge denied a motion for injunctive relief that was part of a lawsuit against the conference.

Judge S. Kato Crews, a Joe Biden-nominee who was confirmed along party lines by the Democrat-controlled Senate in February, denied a series of motions that sought to disqualify Fleming from playing in the tournament and to negate losses by teams that forfeited games against SJSU during the regular season.

The judge, who spent the first 30 minutes of Thursday’s emergency hearing discussing which pronouns to use when talking about Fleming, also ruled against Utah State joining the lawsuit.

“The movants have failed to meet their burden to show irreparable harm, a likelihood of success on the merits, or that the balance of harms or equities is in their favor,” Crews wrote in his decision.

A federal judge in Colorado, appointed by Joe Biden, denied a motion for injunctive relief in the Mountain West lawsuit, meaning SJSU and transgender Blaire Fleming are eligible to play in the conference tournament.

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While many media outlets have refused to name Blaire Fleming or “out” the volleyball player as transgender and instead say that SJSU “allegedly” has a transgender player on its roster, the judge noted that the defendants have essentially admitted what OutKick has reported since April: Blaire Fleming was born male.

“No Defendant disputed that SJSU rosters a trans woman volleyball player,” Crews wrote.

Despite that acknowledgment, Crews wrote that Title IX must include protection for trans-identifying people, citing precedents set by the 10th Circuit and the Supreme Court.

“The movants’ Title IX theory raised in this case directly conflicts with Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination against trans individuals,” he wrote.

This rationale is consistent with the Biden Administration’s re-write of Title IX that changed the language in Title IX from “sex” (which is biological) to “gender identity” (which is not rooted in science).

READ: Judge Hears Arguments In Emergency Hearing On Mountain West Lawsuit Over Trans SJSU Volleyball Player

Crews’ ruling that forfeits by several conference teams will continue to count as losses for them and wins for San Jose State, means the Spartans will be the #2 seed in the tournament that starts on Wednesday. They’ll get a bye in the first round and play Friday in the semifinals.

“The threatened injury to the movants if an injunction issues is outweighed by the MWC’s interest in holding the upcoming MWC Tournament without an eleventh-hour shake-up to its currently planned structure,” Crews wrote. “The relief requested with the Emergency Motion would risk confusion and upend months of planning and would prejudice, at a minimum, Defendants and other teams participating in the tournament depending on the results of any reseeding.”

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Finally, on the motion for Utah State to join the lawsuit as a plaintiff, Crews ruled that they did not show “irreparable harm” and denied its claim.

“The movants have failed to meet their burden to show irreparable harm, thus justifying denial of the Emergency Motion and USU’s motion partially joining in it,” Crews wrote.

This is certainly not the end of the case from the legal perspective. Crews’ decision only applied to the injunctive relief motion.

However, it’s a big blow to the plaintiffs who are fighting to protect women’s sports, especially when it comes to males competing.

The Mountain West Tournament begins on Wednesday and Utah State faces Boise State in the first round. The winner of that match would face San Jose State and Fleming in the next round.

It is unclear at this time if either Boise State or Utah State – both of which opted not to play SJSU during the regular season – plan to forfeit the match against SJSU and end their hopes of reaching the NCAA Tournament without even taking the court.

What we do know is that OutKick will be in Las Vegas covering the tournament and will report information as we have it.

Stay with us for updates on this developing story.

UPDATE: San Jose State and the California State University each sent a statement to OutKick in response to the ruling.

SJSU: “San José State University will continue to support its student-athletes and reject discrimination in all forms. All San José State University student-athletes are eligible to participate in their sports under NCAA and Mountain West Conference rules. We are gratified that the Court rejected an eleventh-hour attempt to change those rules. Our team looks forward to competing in the Mountain West volleyball tournament this week.”

CSU: “The California State University fully supports its student-athletes and their right to play and compete in the sports they love. The CSU does not tolerate discrimination of any kind, on or off the court. We applaud the Court’s decision and will be cheering on the San José State University volleyball team as they continue to compete for a championship in the Mountain West Conference tournament.”