NEWYou can now listen to Pakinomist articles!
A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s decision could affect a separate case involving a similar issue.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews delayed ruling on cases to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a decision in BPJ v. West Virginia Supreme Court case expected to come in June.
Slusser filed the suit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in the fall of 2024 after she was allegedly forced to share bedrooms and locker rooms with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for an entire season without being informed that Fleming is biologically male.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON Pakinomist
Meanwhile, the BPJ case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teenager sued West Virginia to block the state’s law barring men from competing in girls’ high school sports.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit may be affected by the SCOTUS ruling.
“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will confirm that Title IX is designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to allow male athletes to displace women and girls in competition. It is critical that sports be separated by sex for not only equal opportunity for women, but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete for 50 years for women,” he says. ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.
Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock from Independent Council on women’s sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case.
(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons on Falcon Court at the East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado on October 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons on October 19, 2024 at the Air Force 10 Gym. in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“We look forward to the case moving forward,” Bock told Pakinomist Digital.
“I think the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or announced sex, and so just as Congress and the members of Congress who passed Title IX in 1972, this specifically allowed in the rules that there should be separate male and female teams based on the court’s biological sex, and believe that is the meaning of the biological sex that applies in the court’s statutes, that way, and I think that will be a great victory in women’s sport.”
The The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared poised to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on January 13.
Slusser spoke on the Supreme Court steps Jan. 13 as oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters.
With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference finals by virtue of a forfeit of Boise State in the semi-finals. SJSU lost in the finals to Colorado State.
Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma of the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill for an unfinished last semester of college.
Chairman Donald Trump’s The Department of Education ruled in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming and has given the university an ultimatum to accept a series of decisions or face a referral to the Justice Department.
Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a game. ED alleges that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE Pakinomist APP
SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and spent Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit alleging Fleming was transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Pakinomist Digital in a July interview that he was pleased with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.
“I think everyone acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said.
Related article
