Supreme Court Upholds Bans on Transgender Athletes in Girls' Sports

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that states can bar transgender girls and women from playing on school sports teams, siding with Idaho and West Virginia in a decision that's expected to apply to the more than two dozen other Republican-led states with similar bans already on the books.

The court's conservative majority found the bans don't violate the Constitution or Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools. It's the latest in a string of rulings against transgender Americans from the court over the past year.

The West Virginia case centered on Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 16-year-old sophomore in Bridgeport. She's been on puberty-blocking medication, has identified as a girl since she was 8, and holds a West Virginia birth certificate listing her as female. She's the only transgender athlete who has tried to compete in girls' sports in the state.

The Idaho case involved Lindsay Hecox, who sued over the state's first-in-the-nation ban after trying out for the women's track and cross-country teams at Boise State University. She didn't make either team, her lawyer Kathleen Hartnett told the court in January, saying simply that "she was too slow," though Hecox has competed in club-level soccer and running.

The ruling doesn't settle everything. Lawsuits are still pending in Connecticut, California and other states with laws or rules that allow transgender athletes to compete based on their gender identity, so the legal fight isn't over nationwide.