By Staff
EAST LANSING – The nine-year battle between the Michigan High School Athletic Association and Communities for Equality could come to an end on Monday.
The United States Supreme Court has placed the two groups on its weekly conference call this Friday. Should the case be discussed on Friday as scheduled, an announcement could be made on Monday on whether or not the high court will head the case.
The MHSAA and Communities for Equity have been battling since 1998 about basketball and volleyball seasons for both boys and girls.
Should the Supreme Court agree to hear the case again, it probably won't happen until the new session in the fall.
Should the court decide not to hear the case, the MHSAA would be forced to put in place its plan for switching several sports seasons it created a couple of years ago.
Should the MHSAA lose, girls basketball and volleyball would switch seasons. The girls would play volleyball in the fall and basketball in the winter like the boys do.
Also scheduled to switch golf and tennis.
Currently, boys play golf in the fall and tennis in the spring, while the girls play golf in the spring and tennis in the fall.
Should the MHSAA be forced to switch seasons, it is unknown at this time whether or not those changes would take place in 2007-08.
Many conferences around the state have already drawn up two sets of schedules for next season.
The MHSAA is hoping the Supreme Court will overturn a decision by the U.S 6th Circuit Court that upheld its original ruling that Michigan's current system violates federal gender-equity laws.
Michigan is now the only state that has girls baskaetball in the fall and volleyball in the winter.