Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Transgender Athletes in School Sports

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday in a pair of cases that could determine whether states can ban transgender women from competing on female school sports teams.

Idaho and West Virginia are defending their laws—the 2020 "Fairness in Women's Sports Act" and 2021 "Save Women's Sports Act," respectively—after lower courts ruled both violate constitutional protections. In Idaho's case, a federal court found the ban violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In West Virginia, an appeals court ruled the law amounts to sex-based discrimination under Title IX.

The Trump administration is also appearing before the court to defend the bans.

Twenty-seven states currently have similar restrictions on the books.

The conservative-majority court has recently ruled in favor of restrictions affecting transgender people. Last year, justices upheld a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming medical treatment for minors and allowed the Trump administration to move forward with dismissing transgender service members from the military.

A decision in the current case is expected by the end of June.