The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear appeals in two cases centered on whether male trans-identified athletes can participate in sports designated for females.
In a miscellaneous order issued Thursday morning, the court agreed to hear oral arguments centered on legal challenges to laws passed in Idaho and West Virginia.
One case, Lindsay Hecox et al. v. Bradley Little, et al., involves a trans-identified athlete suing to strike down Idaho law known as the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.
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The Idaho law was blocked by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August 2023, upholding a lower court preliminary injunction against it.
The other case, State of West Virginia v. B.P.J., involved a challenge by a trans-identified athlete to the West Virginia Save Women’s Sports Act, which had been signed into law in 2021.
In February 2023, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 decision reinstating an earlier lower court ruling that blocked the legislation.
Alliance Defending Freedom President Kristen Waggoner, whose organization has actively supported such laws, released a statement Thursday celebrating the granting of the appeal.
“Women and girls deserve to compete on a level playing field. But activists continue their quest to erase differences between men and women by forcing schools to allow men to compete in women’s sports,” stated Waggoner.
“We are pleased the court will listen to the countless girls across the country speaking out on this issue and restore fairness and safety for female athletes.”
Joshua Block, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which is part of the legal team representing the students in both cases, expressed concern that state laws might prevail.
“Categorically excluding kids from school sports just because they are transgender will only make our schools less safe and more hurtful places for all youth,” said Block, as quoted by NBC News.
“We believe the lower courts were right to block these discriminatory laws, and we will continue to defend the freedom of all kids to play.”
In recent years, around two dozen states have passed laws that prohibit male athletes who identify as female from competing in girls’ scholastic sports, citing concerns over fairness.
For its part, the Trump administration has demanded that public academic institutions designate sports participation on the basis of biological sex rather than gender self-identification.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it reached an agreement with the University of Pennsylvania to strip trans-identified swimmer Lia (Will) Thomas of the medals he won while competing in women’s swim competitions in 2022.
