CHARLESTON, W.Va. West Virginia and Idaho are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review decisions which blocked enforcement of state laws that ban transgender athletes from competing in sports.
“If the Supreme Court accepts this, it will determine the fate of women’s sports across the country for many years to come,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said Thursday in a news conference with reporters at the state Capitol , in Charleston.
It’s unclear when the high court will decide whether to take up the cases, which were filed separately Thursday and involve transgender athletes expected to compete on female-designated teams at the K-12 and college levels, respectively.
In the West Virginia case, a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in April that the state’s ban on transgender sports violated Becky Pepper-Jackson’s rights under Title IX, the federal civil rights law which prohibits discrimination based on sex in schools. Jackson, 14, takes medication to block puberty and has publicly identified like a girl since she was in third grade.
West Virginia’s Republican governor, Jim Justice, signed the law into effect in 2021.
Idaho in 2020 became the first state in the country to ban transgender women and girls from playing on women’s sports teams sponsored by public schools, colleges and universities. The American Civil Liberties Union and the women’s rights group Legal Voice sued Idaho on behalf of Lindsay Hecox, who hoped to run for Boise State University.
A Boise-area high school athlete who is not transgender is also a plaintiff in the case because she fears the law could force her to undergo invasive testing to prove her biological sex if someone questions her gender.
In August 2023, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a preliminary injunction blocking the law while the lawsuit proceeded.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said Thursday that activists working against the law are “promoting a radical social agenda that marginalizes women and girls in their own sports.”
“Idaho is committed to ensuring women and girls have a fair chance on and off the field,” Labrador said in a statement.
Morrisey said his office has been working closely with Labrador in presenting the states’ petitions.
“We believe the combination of these cases provides a tremendous vehicle for the U.S. Supreme Court to act,” he said.
Sports participation is one of the main fronts in recent years’ legislative and legal battles over the role of transgender people in U.S. public life. Most Republican-controlled states have passed restrictions on participation as well as bans on gender-affirming health care for minors. Several have also restricted the bathrooms and locker rooms that trans people can use, especially in schools.
West Virginia and Idaho are two of at least 24 states with a law on the books that bans transgender women and girls from competing in certain girls’ or women’s sports competitions.
“This is a case of fair play,” Morrisey said. “It’s pure common sense and we need the Supreme Court to weigh in and do the right thing.”
The ACLU, ACLU of West Virginia, Lambda Legal and Cooley Law Firm released a joint statement in response.
“As the Fourth Circuit has made abundantly clear, our client deserves the opportunity to participate on sports teams without discrimination,” Pepper-Jackson’s legal team said. “We will make our position clear to the Court and continue to defend the right of all students to play as they are.
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