The legal counsel for several female college volleyball players is expressing outrage after a Biden-appointed judge ruled that a transgender player must remain in their upcoming women’s college volleyball tournament.
On Tuesday, Federal Judge Kato Crews, appointed to the bench by Joe Biden nearly a year ago, denied a motion for injunctive relief that sought to have San Jose State University player Blaire Fleming disqualified from the tournament. Crews ruled that Fleming could remain with SJSU’s volleyball team.
The judge ruled that the litigants seeking to exclude Fleming did not “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 also insisted that removing Fleming now as the tournament is just preparing to kick off is “not reasonable.”
NCAA women’s volleyball players Brooke Slusser, Kaylie Ray, Macey Boggs, Sierra Grizzle, Jordan Sandy, Katelyn Van Kirk, and Kiersten Van Kirk were all listed on the complaint, and their legal representative is speaking out in the wake of the liberal judge’s ruling.
ICONS legal counsel Bill Bock is now speaking out.
“It is shameful that the administrators at the Mountain West Conference and the NCAA are unwilling to do their jobs, which is solely to protect fair competition and the safety of athletes who compete in college sports. However, because Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez and NCAA President Charlie Baker won’t do their jobs and are apparently afraid to stand up for the rights of women student-athletes, we are forced to ask the federal courts to do their jobs for them,” Bock said according to Fox News.
Bock added that the Mountain West Conference, the NCAA, and San Jose State University “have delayed justice, but will not escape justice,” and they will press their case.
“The Court of Appeal’s statement that the Plaintiffs appear to have presented a substantial and meritorious legal claim calls into question the legal reasoning of the district court and confirms Plaintiffs’ conviction that the harm caused to numerous women and women’s teams by a trans-identifying male competing in Mountain West Conference women’s college volleyball stems from illegal Conference and NCAA rules which are resulting in substantial and continuing violations of federal law,” Bock insisted. “Plaintiffs look forward to ultimately receiving justice in this case when they prove these legal violations in court, and Plaintiffs look forward to the day when men are no longer allowed to wreak havoc in women’s sport.”
For her part, Slusser, who plays for San Jose State along with Fleming, says that her teammates don’t feel safe with Fleming on the team.
“After we found out that she was released, a lot of the team just kind of broke down and was kind of freaking out, and even one of my teammates was like, ‘I don’t feel safe anymore,’ because there’s no one now that we feel like we can go and talk to about our concerns or our actual feelings and can actually speak freely in front of,” Slusser told Fox News.
Slusser added that the team is not safe and fears retaliation from school officials who “have decided that they will basically do anything to keep supporting Blaire.”
“You can’t truly voice how you’re feeling without them just trying to cover it up or act like it’s all OK. With Melissa, you could voice how you felt, and she could comfort you and validate your feelings and at least make you feel heard compared to the other coaches,” Slusser exclaimed.
The San Jose State University women’s volleyball team shot up to the No. 2 seed team in the Mountain West tournaments after five other colleges forfeited games to avoid playing against SJSU’s transgender player. The league has openly warned that it will happily crown SJSU the tournament champs if more teams forfeit.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston
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