The Supreme Court’s conservative majority is poised to uphold states’ bans on transgender athletes in female sports.
On Tuesday, during more than three hours of arguments, justices signaled they would rule in favor of state bans, saying they do not violate the Constitution or Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court majority also appeared swayed by the arguments of cisgender athletes who have been accused of bigotry for opposing transgender participation in female sports.
‘Looking to the broader issue that a lot of people are interested in, there are an awful lot of female athletes who are strongly opposed to participation by trans athletes in competitions with them,’ conservative justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said. ‘Are they bigots? Are they deluded in thinking that they are subjected to unfair competition?’
A ruling is expected by early summer.
More than two dozen Republican-led states have adopted bans on female transgender athletes. Lower courts had ruled for the transgender athletes who challenged laws in Idaho and West Virginia.
Trans athlete Becky Pepper-Jackson (C) arrives outside the Supreme Court after it heard arguments in two cases that challenge state bans on transgender athletes
Athletes fighting to uphold state bans against transgender athletes speak outside the court
The legal fight is playing out against the backdrop of a broad effort by President Donald Trump to target transgender Americans, beginning on the first day of his second term and including the ouster of transgender people from the military and declaring that gender is immutable and determined at birth.
The justices are evaluating claims of sex discrimination lodged by transgender people versus the need for fair competition for women and girls, the main argument made by the states.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who coached his daughters in girls basketball, seemed concerned about a ruling that might undo the effects of Title IX, which has produced dramatic growth in girls and women’s sports. Kavanaugh called Title IX an ‘amazing’ and ‘inspiring’ success.
Some girls and women might lose a medal in a competition with transgender athletes, which Kavanaugh called a harm ‘we can’t sweep aside.’
The three liberal justices seemed focused on trying to marshal a court majority in support of a narrow ruling that would allow the individual transgender athletes involved in the cases to prevail.
A ruling for West Virginia and Idaho would effectively apply to the other two dozen Republican-led states with similar laws.
Protesters gather outside the Supreme Court during arguments over state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams
Protesters carry signs outside the Supreme Court during arguments over state bans
But the justices soon might be asked to decide about the laws in an additional roughly two dozen states, led by Democrats, that allow transgender athletes to compete on the teams that match their gender identity.
The outcome also could influence separate legal efforts by the Trump administration and others seeking to bar transgender athletes in states that have continued to allow them to compete.
In the Idaho case, Lindsay Hecox, 25, sued over the state’s first-in-the-nation ban for the chance to try out for the women’s track and cross-country teams at Boise State University in Idaho. She didn’t make either squad because “she was too slow,” her lawyer, Kathleen Hartnett, told the court Tuesday, but she competed in club-level soccer and running.
Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 15-year-old high school sophomore, was in the courtroom Tuesday. She has been taking puberty-blocking medication, has publicly identified as a girl since age 8 and has been issued a West Virginia birth certificate recognizing her as female. She is the only transgender person who has sought to compete in girls sports in West Virginia.
