Pac-12 turmoil: Who is Gary Libey, the small-town judge overseeing a court case with national significance?

Just down the road from Washington State University’s Pullman campus, Whitman County Superior Judge Gary Libey has found himself at the center of a massive battle over the survival of the Pac-12 Conference – with national implications for the sports world.

The small-town judge appeared to be aware of his newfound celebrity as he welcomed dozens of guests into his courtroom for a Monday morning hearing on the sports-centered court case.

“We have a small town here less than 3,000 people,” he said of Colfax, Washington. “And it seems like we have about that many here in the court room!”

When he was not cracking jokes, Libey ruled in favor of WSU in the very beginning stages of what will likely be a defining case of his career, should it stay in his courtroom.

WSU and Oregon State University – the only remaining members of the athletic conference once 10 others leave in the new school year – sued to stop the Pac-12 board from meeting Wednesday. The two schools argued that letting the other 10 weigh in on decisions after announcing they’ll depart the conference would make them “hopelessly conflicted.”

Libey granted a temporary restraining order that prevents the board from meeting until a preliminary hearing determines whether the 10 other schools could still be considered legitimate members of the conference based on its bylaws.

Libey has been a fixture of the Whitman County legal world for decades. He received his undergraduate degree at Washington State before getting a law degree at Gonzaga in 1976. He was first elected as a part-time judge in 1978 and first elected as Superior Court commissioner in 2009.

After laying down his judgment in Monday’s case, Libey thanked his many guests for not scaring his clerk – saying they had been “concerned about all the animals that were going to be here today.”

Libey went on to list each of the Pac-12 Conference mascots with a wry smile.