CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia and Idaho ask U.S. Supreme Court for review pronunciations who blocked enforcement of state laws banning transgender athletes from participating in sports activities.
“If the Supreme Court takes this up, it will determine the fate of women’s sports across the country for years to come,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said Thursday during a briefing with reporters at the state Capitol in Charleston.
It is unclear when the Supreme Court will decide whether to hear the cases. The cases, filed separately Thursday, involve transgender athletes hoping to compete on female teams at the K-12 and collegiate levels, respectively.
In the West Virginia case, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit 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 gender discrimination in schools. Jackson, 14, takes medication to slow puberty and has been publicly identified as a girl since she was in third grade.
West Virginia’s Republican Governor Jim Justice signed the bill into law, and it went into effect in 2021.
In 2020, Idaho became the first state in the nation 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 high school athlete who is not transgender is also a plaintiff in the case, who 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. Court of Appeals upheld an injunction blocking the law while the lawsuit proceeds.
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador said Thursday that activists fighting the law “are pursuing a radical social agenda that marginalizes women and girls in their own sports.”
“Idaho is committed to ensuring that women and girls have a fair chance both on and off the field,” Labrador said in a statement.
Morrisey said his office had worked closely with Labrador in filing the states’ petitions.
“We think the combination of these cases is a tremendous vehicle for the U.S. Supreme Court to take action,” he said.
Sports participation has been a major front in legislative and legal battles in recent years 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 imposed restrictions on which restrooms and locker rooms transgender people can use, particularly in schools.
West Virginia and Idaho are two of at least 24 states with laws banning transgender people from participating in certain women’s or girls’ sports.
“This is a case about fair play,” Morrisey said. “It’s just common sense, and we need the Supreme Court to step in and do the right thing.”
The ACLU, the ACLU of West Virginia, Lambda Legal and Cooley Law Firm issued a joint statement in response.
“As the Fourth Circuit made clear, our client deserves the opportunity to participate in 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.”