Munger, Tolles & Olson Defeats Preliminary Injunction in San Jose State Volleyball Case

Munger, Tolles & Olson defeated a nationally watched preliminary injunction motion that would have upended established rules allowing transgender student-athletes to participate in college athletics and barred San Jose State University (SJSU)’s women’s volleyball team from competing in their conference championship tournament.

The plaintiffs sought to bar an SJSU women’s volleyball player who they allege to be transgender from playing in the Mountain West Conference’s championship tournament. They also asked to invalidate the conference’s Transgender Participation Policy, which imposes forfeits on teams that refuse to play against teams that they believe have transgender players. MTO represented SJSU and other university-affiliated defendants, and successfully defeated the injunction twice—once before the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, and then again before the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

MTO’s successful efforts helped make it possible for the full SJSU team to play in the conference final on November 30, 2024. The MTO team representing SJSU included partners Bryan Heckenlively and Jennifer Bryant and associates Helen White, Jing Jin, Roman Leal, Becca Hansen and Sarah Pfander.

The case garnered significant media coverage in publications such as The New York Times, CNN, ESPN, San Francisco Chronicle, Law360, Associated Press and many others.