Order Granting Plaintiff's Motion to Vacate and Remand 3-20-2011

March 23, 2011

After a series of twists and turns, TASO’s lawsuit against the University Interscholastic League’s attempt to register, regulate and control Texas sports officials is headed back to state district court.

On March 17, a federal district judge in Austin granted the UIL’s motion that the federal court did not have jurisdiction over this dispute. This is ironic since it was the UIL that moved the case to federal court in the first place. And later, when TASO offered to move the case back to state court, the UIL officially notified the TASO legal team that it would oppose such a motion.

The federal judge specifically did NOT rule on TASO’s central point that the UIL’s Sports Officials Department is beyond the authority that the Texas Legislature has granted the UIL.

The federal judge’s ruling simply means that the case will return to state court where, in the past, TASO has secured a temporary restraining order and an injunction against the UIL. We hope for, and anticipate, similar success.

Remember, three separate judges have already prevented the UIL from forcing its registration requirement on sports officials. TASO is in the process of undertaking the procedural steps to re-start the case in state court, where it was before the UIL sought the removal to federal court.

Just as before, there is no requirement to register and TASO remains strong in every sense of the word.

TASO is 100 percent dedicated to the cause that high school sports officials in Texas should remain independent and not fall under the control of a bureaucratic state agency where the individual official has no voice. This independence has served the high school student athletes in Texas well for almost 80 years.

This is what that we are fighting for, but it does not mean we are unwilling to continue to work closely with the UIL and private school organizations to create guidelines, rules and regulations that officials must abide by that are in the best interest of both officials and Texas schools.