The U.S. Supreme Court is stepping into a growing national clash over transgender athletes and state laws that restrict sports participation based on biological sex. This term, justices will hear two cases from Idaho and West Virginia that could reshape how schools nationwide balance fairness and inclusion in athletics.
The central question is whether state bans violate federal protections, including the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title IX. Supporters say the laws protect fairness and safety in girls’ and women’s competition. Opponents argue they discriminate against transgender students and deny them equal opportunities.
Idaho became the first state in the country to pass a law in 2020 requiring athletes to compete according to their biological sex. The legal fight over that law began with one runner Lindsay Hecox, a transgender athlete who sued after being barred from trying out for the women’s cross-country team at Boise State University. “I was feeling overwhelmed at the discrimination,” Hecox said.
State Representative Barbara Ehardt, a Republican from Idaho who sponsored the law, said it was designed “to provide the opportunities girls have had for the last 50 years.”
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador defended the measure, saying, “It was just preposterous and unfair to allow boys to participate in girls’ sports.”
Lower courts blocked Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, allowing Hecox to compete for several seasons. Though she later requested to dismiss her case after the Supreme Court agreed to take it up, a federal judge denied her motion. State officials, joined by two former Idaho State University runners, are now asking the Court to decide whether states can enforce such laws nationwide.
“The fact biological males are still beating females in their sport is insane,” said former runner Madison Kenyon. “The only thing that’s going to stop it is if we speak up.”
In West Virginia, the case centers on Becky Pepper-Jackson, a middle school runner barred from girls’ cross-country under the state’s Save Women’s Sports Act.
“In 2021, our state passed a law called the Save Women’s Sports Act, which essentially says if you’re going to play women’s sports in West Virginia you have to play against people who share your biological characteristics,” said Attorney General J.B. McCuskey.
Lower courts also blocked that ban, allowing Pepper-Jackson to continue competing.
Jonathan Scruggs with Alliance Defending Freedom argued the restrictions are needed. “Men are coming in, taking scholarships, podium slots,” he said. “Just in the West Virginia case alone, since the male athlete there started participating, he’s taken away 400 slots of women and displaced girls 1,100 times. Think about that.”
Across the country, current and former athletes are weighing in.
“This male athlete used his biological advantage and hit the ball into our faces over and over again, completely humiliating us in front of these college scouts,” said former NCAA volleyball player Macy Petty.
In Maine, skier Cassidy Carlisle shared a similar concern. “We’re not telling someone they can’t compete in their sport,” she said. “We’re telling them that there is a fair and equal category for them to compete in.”
At least 27 states now restrict transgender students from competing in girls’ sports.
Policy experts say a balanced approach is needed. “We do need some sort of rules here,” said Lanae Erickson of the think tank Third Way. “But I do think that rules can be different based on what is the sport and what is the age and what is the level of competition.”
The ACLU, representing both Hecox and Pepper-Jackson, argues the bans are unconstitutional. “When it comes to sports, that’s a context in which we allow sex-separated teams,” said Joshua Block, Senior Counsel at the ACLU. “But we can’t do that in a way that takes a vulnerable population and just excludes them in entirety.”
Sarah Parshall Perry, with Defending Education, noted that some organizations are already reconsidering their policies. “We’ve seen even the International Olympic Committee and the NCAA start to rethink some of their policies,” she said. “That’s a good indicator that there are only so many lies that you can ask the public to believe before they finally take a step back and say, we really think you ought to reconsider this.”
The Trump administration has sided with Idaho and West Virginia in the cases. A decision from the Supreme Court is expected by June. The rulings could set a nationwide precedent on how civil rights protections apply to transgender students, an issue the nation’s highest court has not yet fully addressed.
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