Brooke Slusser calls the Supreme Court’s transgender decision a ‘huge win’ for female athletes.

Former San Jose State volleyball player Brooke Slusser called Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling in favor of states protecting women’s sports a “huge victory” for female athletes to date.

Slusser appeared on Fox News’ “The Faulkner Focus” after the high court ruled 6-3 in favor of West Virginia and Idaho in two landmark cases involving transgender athletes. The ruling upheld state laws that require student athletes to compete on sports teams that match their natural sex at birth instead of their gender identity.

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For Slusser, who became one of the most prominent voices in the fight to protect women’s sports after speaking out about a transgender player on her volleyball team in 2024, the decision was a personal one.

“I mean, it’s amazing,” Slusser told Harris Faulkner. “It’s the biggest win we’ve ever had, so I couldn’t be happier. We couldn’t have asked for anything else right now.”

Slusser filed the lawsuit last year over her experience at SJSU, where she said she was not told her teammate Blaire Fleming was transgender despite sharing team spaces, including hotel rooms, locker rooms and dormitories.

“I found out from other student-athletes at this university, it wasn’t even the institution itself that made it worse,” said Slusser. “My entire team had to find out on its own through other student-athletes.”

Slusser said the issue is not just about competition. She pointed out that female athletes are deprived of the ability to make informed decisions about their privacy and comfort in intimate spaces.

“It’s a waste of choice for a student athlete to choose safe places,” he said. “You’ll go into the changing rooms, or because of my condition, my living space, and you’re told that all women, you think I’m free to do whatever I need to do, change and dress where I want. And then I find all the time that I’ve always shared hotel rooms, changing rooms, my living space with a man.”

Brooke Slusser 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, Colo., on Oct. 19, 2024. Blair Fleming watched during the third set of the same match. (Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)

Slusser continued, “They’re taking away my choice of where I want to prepare and who I want to prepare for. That’s a big problem. It’s not just about the safety of the sport, it’s about everything else that goes into it.”

SUPREME COURT RULES FOR TRANS ATHLETES IN WOMEN’S SPORTS

The SJSU volleyball controversy has been one of the most high-profile examples in the debate over athletic identification in women’s sports. Several Mountain West teams lost games against San Jose State during that season amid concerns about Fleming’s participation.

Slusser told Faulkner that even as Fleming’s colleague, he still has concerns about physical differences in performance.

“I had to practice with him. I wasn’t playing with him in a real game,” Slusser said. “So, at least I was aware of his tendency to be able to keep myself a little bit safer. But even so, I still got hit on my body. I had bruises on my legs from being hit by the ball.”

Brooke Slusser and Blaire Fleming of the San Jose State Spartans call the game during the first set against the Air Force Falcons on the Falcon Court at the East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Oct. 19, 2024. (Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)

He went on to say that the opponents were put in a very bad situation because they did not know each other before they entered the court.

“These other teams don’t know what they’re doing,” Slusser said. “That’s worse than what I have to go through. I exercise every day, trying to stay safe.”

The Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v. BPJ and Little v. Hecox gives states the authority to maintain separate sports categories for women and girls based on natural sex. The ruling is a major victory for advocates who argued that Title IX was designed to protect female athletes, not force them to compete against natural men.

A protester holds a sign outside the Supreme Court during a debate over state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school track teams in Washington, DC, on Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Slusser said San Jose State beat its female athletes by ranking Fleming first on the entire list.

For them to allow these student-athletes who were posing as women to be protected under those Title IX laws that were intended to protect women is a huge mistake,” said Slusser. “My own institution, SJSU, decided to protect a man and not worry about the 18 other women who should have been protected.”

Slusser also mentioned former high school volleyball player Payton McNabb, who was seriously injured after being hit by a spike from a sex offender in 2022.

“This could destroy people’s lives, not just in athletics, but in general,” said Slusser. “Payton McNabb will never be like what happened to him, and that’s what we’re trying to stop.”

Protesters against transgender athletes competing in women’s sports gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on Jan. 13, 2026, as two cases were heard regarding the participation of transgender girls in girls’ and women’s sports teams. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

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For Slusser and other women who have publicly fought this battle, Tuesday’s decision marks a long-overdue legal victory.

And in states that passed laws protecting women’s sports, the Supreme Court has now made it clear that it has the constitutional authority to enforce them.