The Supreme Court signaled Tuesday that it may back state laws keeping transgender girls and women off female sports teams, setting up another major ruling in the country's ongoing fight over transgender rights. During arguments in cases from Idaho and West Virginia, several conservative justices questioned whether such restrictions amount to unconstitutional discrimination, instead casting them as protections for girls' and women's athletics, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Justice Samuel Alito pressed lawyers challenging the laws on the concerns of female athletes who object to competing against transgender women. "Are they bigots? Are they deluded in thinking that they are subjected to unfair competition?" he asked. Apart from Alito's remarks, the arguments were generally free from "colorful rhetoric," NBC News reports. Idaho and West Virginia are among 27 states that restrict participation on girls' teams to those whose sex was recorded as female at birth. Supporters frame the policies as necessary to preserve competitive fairness and scholarship opportunities.
- The Idaho case involved the state's first-in-the-nation ban, the AP reports. Lindsay Hecox sued to try out for women's track and cross-country teams at Boise State University.
- The West Virginia lawsuit was filed by 15-year-old shot put and discus thrower Becky Pepper-Jackson, the only trans athlete affected by the state's ban.
- Both athletes were allowed to compete after lower courts issued injunctions.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted that the nation is split almost evenly and questioned whether the court should "jump in and try to constitutionalize a rule for the whole country" amid unsettled science over athletic advantages. He "appeared eager" for a ruling that wouldn't affect the 23 states that don't have bans, NBC reports. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson argued Idaho's law draws an impermissible line: between a cisgender woman and a transgender woman "who both want to play on a team that reflects their gender identity," she said, the law "treats transgender women differently than cis women."
The disputes arrive as transgender participation in sports has become a political flashpoint. President Trump this year ordered federal funding cuts for schools and states that permit transgender women and girls to join female teams; the NCAA quickly responded by barring transgender women from women's college sports. Advocates for transgender athletes say blanket bans are discriminatory and unnecessary, urging case-by-case evaluations based on age and hormone levels, the Journal reports. A decision is expected by early July.
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