Supreme Court takes up challenges to trans athletes in women's sports

• The court took up two cases over transgender athlete ban laws in Idaho and West Virginia.

The intrigue: The conservative majority have handed the LGBTQ+ community a string of losses recently, which hints they could uphold the state bans on transgender athletes in women's sports.

• In 2024, the court shot down former President Biden's attempt to use Title IX to protect LGBTQ+ students.
• The conservative majority recently upheld state bans on gender affirming care for minors.
• The court also ended its term in June with a decision that allows parents to opt their children out of school activities with LGBTQ+ characters or themes that might offend religious sensibilities.

What they're saying: West Virginia argued a lower court decision halting the state's transgender ban "upends the Title IX and equal protection frameworks."

• "It tacitly overturns countless cases upholding sex distinctions for bathrooms, prisons, physical-fitness tests, and more," the state said.

The other side: Attorneys for Lindsay Hecox, a transgender college senior at Boise State University, had urged the Supreme Court not to take up the case.

• Idaho's arguments "misconstrue both the Ninth Circuit's decision and this Court's equal protection jurisprudence in seeking to create a conflict with this Court where there is none," her attorneys argued.
• Hecox participates in running and soccer clubs at the college but failed to qualify for NCAA teams.
• "This case is thus an exceptionally poor vehicle for resolving any broader issues involving women's sports, as it involves one woman playing club sports who will soon complete school altogether," they said.