This browser does not support the Video element.
Supreme Court takes up cases over transgender athletes
A crowd has been camped outside the Supreme Court for hours ahead of Tuesday’s high‑stakes arguments. The Supreme Court is hearing challenges to state laws that bar transgender girls and women from competing on school sports teams.
WASHINGTON - A crowd has been camped outside the Supreme Court for hours ahead of Tuesday’s high‑stakes arguments. The Supreme Court is hearing challenges to state laws that bar transgender girls and women from competing on school sports teams.
Lower courts sided with transgender athletes in Idaho and West Virginia, but the conservative‑leaning Supreme Court may take a different approach.
What we know:
Over the past year, the justices have upheld state bans on gender‑affirming care for transgender youths and allowed several other restrictions on transgender people to take effect.
The legal fight comes as President Donald Trump pursues a broad effort targeting transgender Americans, including removing transgender service members from the military and declaring gender unchangeable and assigned at birth.
READ MORE: Maryland lawmakers consider bill to ban transgender students from girls' sports
The cases before the court stem from Idaho and West Virginia, two of more than two dozen Republican‑led states that have banned transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports.
The justices are weighing claims of sex discrimination brought by transgender athletes against states’ arguments that the bans are needed to protect fair competition for women and girls.
In the Idaho case, 25‑year‑old Lindsay Hecox sued over the state’s first‑in‑the‑nation ban, seeking the chance to try out for Boise State University’s women’s track and cross‑country teams. She didn’t make either team but has competed in club‑level soccer and running.
In West Virginia, 15‑year‑old Becky Pepper‑Jackson has taken puberty‑blocking medication, identified publicly as a girl since age 8 and holds a state‑issued birth certificate listing her as female. She is the only transgender athlete who has sought to compete in girls’ sports in the state.
Pepper‑Jackson has advanced from a back‑of‑the‑pack middle‑school cross‑country runner to placing third statewide in the discus during her first year of high school.
The arguments are expected to center on whether the sports bans violate the Constitution or Title IX, the federal law that bars sex discrimination in education.
The justices are expected to rule by early summer. The court is also set to hear a separate case later this month involving President Trump and the firing of a federal reserve governor.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the Associated Press and previous FOX 5 reporting.