On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments addressing state-enacted statutes that prevent transgender girls and women from joining school athletic teams. These cases arise from disputes in Idaho and West Virginia, where lower courts had ruled in favor of the transgender athletes contesting the restrictions. However, given the current conservative majority on the Supreme Court, the previous rulings in these cases may be overturned.
Within the past year, the Supreme Court has supported state bans on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender minors and enabled various measures that restrict rights for transgender individuals. These developments sit within a broader policy framework initiated during former President Donald Trump's administration, which targeted transgender rights from the outset of his second term. Initiatives included excluding transgender individuals from military service and advancing the position that gender is an immutable characteristic assigned at birth.
The legal disputes now before the Supreme Court stem from among the earliest instances of over two dozen Republican-led states establishing prohibitions against transgender females competing on girls’ and women’s athletic teams.
The Court's deliberations focus on reconciling allegations of sex discrimination raised by transgender plaintiffs with the states' arguments centered on maintaining equitable competition for cisgender females, which underlies the rationale for the legislative bans.
In Idaho's case, plaintiff Lindsay Hecox, age 25, challenged the state's pioneering ban, seeking the opportunity to join Boise State University's women's track and cross-country programs. Although Hecox did not secure a position on either team, she remained an active competitor in club soccer and running events.
West Virginia's case involves Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 15-year-old sophomore who has been subjected to puberty suppression therapy and has publicly identified as female since age eight. Furthermore, West Virginia has issued her a birth certificate affirming her female status. Pepper-Jackson is uniquely the only transgender individual to have attempted to compete in girls’ sports within the state. Her athletic trajectory includes progressing from modest performances in middle school cross-country to achieving third place statewide in the discus throw during her initial high school year.
The debate has drawn prominent female athletes into its orbit, illuminating divergent perspectives within the sports community. Advocates for the state bans include tennis legend Martina Navratilova, swimmers Summer Sanders and Donna de Varona, and beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh-Jennings. Conversely, notable supporters of the transgender athletes include soccer figures Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn, alongside basketball players Sue Byrd and Breanna Stewart.
Central to the Supreme Court arguments is whether the challenged bans infringe upon the U.S. Constitution or contravene Title IX, the landmark federal statute prohibiting sex-based discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding. Notably, in 2020, the Court ruled that protections against sex discrimination under federal civil rights law extend to LGBTQ individuals, determining that sex is an explicit factor in employment discrimination against transgender people.
Nonetheless, last year the same conservative majority declined to apply a comparable interpretation when upholding laws restricting gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender minors. States enforcing bans on transgender participation in sports contend that this workplace discrimination ruling should not be extended to Title IX, emphasizing that Title IX significantly enhanced athletic opportunities specifically for girls and women in academic settings.
Legal representatives for Pepper-Jackson maintain that existing laws guard against discrimination of individuals such as their client and call for judicial recognition tailored to the unique facts of her early gender transition. In contrast, Hecox's attorneys have requested dismissal of her claim, noting she no longer seeks to compete on female school sports teams.
Despite transgender athletes representing a relatively small demographic, the issue has attracted considerable attention, influenced in part by the NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees instituting bans on transgender women athletes following a presidential executive order barring their participation. Public opinion appears to largely favor such restrictions; an October 2025 survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that approximately 60% of U.S. adults support requiring transgender youth to compete in sports consistent with their sex assigned at birth, while around 20% oppose these conditions, and roughly 25% remain undecided.
Data from the Williams Institute at UCLA's School of Law estimate there are approximately 2.1 million U.S. adults identifying as transgender, equivalent to 0.8% of the adult population, with about 724,000 adolescents aged 13 to 17, or 3.3%, also identifying as transgender.
A ruling on the cases is expected to be released by early summer, potentially shaping the national legal landscape concerning transgender participation in educational athletics and intersecting with broader debates on civil rights and gender identity.