O’CONNOR, BY HER PARENTS AND NEXT FRIENDS, O’CONNOR Et Ux. v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF SCHOOL DISTRICT 23 Et Al.
Headline: Court allows stay blocking an 11-year-old girl's order to try out for boys' junior high basketball, deferring to the appeals court while the legal dispute continues.
Holding:
- Keeps the appeals-court stay in place, blocking tryouts while the case is appealed.
- Leaves the school’s sex-based team rules unresolved until a full decision.
- Notes federal regulations allowing separate teams for contact sports, which may support schools
Summary
Background
Karen O'Connor is an 11‑year‑old sixth-grade student who wanted to try out for the boys’ seventh- or eighth-grade basketball teams at MacArthur Junior High, which belongs to a six-school conference that requires separate teams for contact sports like basketball. After school officials refused because she is a girl, her parents sued and the district court granted a temporary injunction allowing her to try out, finding she was likely to win and would suffer irreparable harm. School officials postponed tryouts, appealed, and the Court of Appeals first stayed the injunction and then, en banc, continued the stay.
Reasoning
The core question was whether the school may exclude Karen from boys’ contact sports solely because of her sex while the case is decided. Acting as Circuit Justice, Justice Stevens explained he has authority to vacate an appeals-court stay but should do so only in rare cases and must defer to an en banc court. He noted the school acted under state authority and therefore must justify the sex-based rule. At the preliminary stage the school produced no evidence that excluding Karen was necessary to protect female athletes, to protect Karen, or to prevent harm to the boys’ program. The record also showed the girls’ program was equal in resources. Because the appeals court’s majority showed a reasonable probability that the sex-based classification can be justified, Justice Stevens declined to overturn the stay.
Real world impact
The ruling leaves the appeals‑court stay in place and prevents Karen from trying out while the appeal continues. It does not decide the final merits of whether sex-based eligibility rules are constitutional. The opinion also notes federal regulations that allow separate teams for contact sports, a factor that supports a reasonable chance the school’s classification will be upheld.
Dissents or concurrances
Some judges dissented from the en banc continuation and other judges viewed the application of the rule to Karen as arbitrary, highlighting disagreement about this case’s outcome.
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