The U.S. Supreme Court announced Thursday that it’s taking up two cases on whether states can ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports teams, Politico reported. One case involves a college athlete.
Lindsay Hecox, a trans student at Boise State University, challenged Idaho’s law barring transgender athletes from competing in 2020, when she wanted to join the university’s women’s track and cross-country teams. Another plaintiff, a high school student, raised concerns about a sex-verification process included in the law. The Ninth Circuit upheld an injunction on the law in 2023, allowing Hecox to try out, which prompted an appeal from Idaho lawmakers.
The second case, originally filed in 2021, is a challenge to West Virginia’s ban on trans athletes in public schools. Last year, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Becky Pepper-Jackson, a transgender middle school student who wanted to compete on her school’s track and cross-country teams.
Now Idaho and West Virginia policymakers will get to defend their state laws before the country’s highest court. The Supreme Court is expected to rule by next summer.