The Supreme Court announced Thursday it will review a pair of cases next term to determine whether or not states may ban transgender students from participating in school sports.
The Supreme Court will review laws in Idaho and West Virginia that bar transgender women and girls from competing on women’s sports teams, putting the issue back on the docket shortly after it upheld Tennessee’s ban on trans youth from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapy in a 6-3 vote last month.
In Idaho, a law passed in 2020 prohibits transgender women and girls from playing on women’s sports teams in schools and colleges. Lindsay Hecox, a transgender woman, sued just days later, saying she intended to try out for the women’s track and cross country teams at Boise State University and argued the ruling violated equal protection and Title IX rights.
In West Virginia, a 2021 law banned transgender girls from girls’ sports in publicly funded schools. A 14-year-old transgender girl also challenged the law under equal protection and Title IX.
In both cases, lower courts ruled in favor of the arguments against the law, bringing both to the docket of the Supreme Court.
According to CNN, the court didn’t act on a third appeal over a similar trans ban in Arizona, likely opting to hold that case until it makes a ruling on the other two.
A total of 27 states have passed laws in recent years restricting participation in sports by transgender people. The Idaho and West Virginia laws designate sports teams at public schools according to “biological sex” and bar “students of the male sex” from female teams.
West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey said the state law “protects women and girls by ensuring the playing field is safe and fair.”
“The people of West Virginia know that it’s unfair to let male athletes compete against women,” McCuskey said, according to Reuters.
The American Civil Liberties Union, part of the legal team representing the athletes in the cases, said school athletic programs should be accessible to all regardless of gender identity.
“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 Joshua Block, senior counsel for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, according to CNN. “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.”
The issue of trans participation in female sports has been a contentious topic under the Trump administration in recent months. In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning trans athletes from competing in women’s sports, while this past Tuesday, the University of Pennsylvania erased transgender swimmer Lia Thomas‘ records after they were found to have violated Title IX in 2022.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments during its next term, which begins in October.
There’s only one Joshua Block
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Overwhelmingly most people consider the issue moot.