Supreme Court will hear cases challenging state bans on transgender athletes

The Supreme Court will hear two cases challenging state laws banning transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports, the court announced Thursday.

One of the cases, West Virginia v. B.P.J., involves a 2021 state law banning transgender athletes from girls’ public school sports teams. The other case, Little v. Hecox, challenges a similar 2020 law in Idaho.

In both cases, transgender students sued their respective states, arguing that the bans violate 14th Amendment guarantees of equal protection under the law and Title IX, which bans sex-based discrimination in education. In West Virginia, middle school student Becky Pepper-Jackson sought to run cross-country and track. In Idaho, Lindsay Hecox wanted to join the track team at Boise State University.

Both students won injunctions and appeals that allowed them to compete, including in 2023, when the Supreme Court upheld a preliminary injunction allowing Pepper-Jackson to compete while the appeals continued. Now, the Supreme Court will hear the cases.

The decision could have sweeping ramifications for more than two dozen states that have similar laws restricting transgender people’s participation in sports. The Trump Administration has targeted universities across the country for allowing transgender athletes to compete, saying their competing violates Title IX.

In June, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to uphold a Tennessee law banning some medical care for transgender youth, with the three liberal justices in dissent. The decision protects similar legislation in more than 20 states. In May, the Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military to go into effect while appeals continue.

The Court will hear the case in its next term, which begins in October, but has not yet set a date for the hearing.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.