Overview
- Following extensive oral arguments, at least five conservative justices indicated they would uphold Idaho and West Virginia laws restricting transgender girls and women from female school teams.
- The paired cases, Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., test the bans under the Equal Protection Clause and, in West Virginia’s case, Title IX.
- Chief Justice John Roberts probed whether sex-separated teams amount to transgender discrimination under Bostock, while Justice Brett Kavanaugh highlighted potential harms to cisgender girls in zero-sum competition.
- Attorneys for the athletes argued hormone suppression can remove any relevant advantage and urged individualized exceptions, while state lawyers maintained that sex at birth governs fairness and safety in athletics.
- Lower courts had limited the bans’ enforcement; Lindsay Hecox has sought to dismiss her case as moot, and states are advancing related policies such as Arizona proposals on school bathrooms and locker rooms for transgender students.