The Supreme Court will hear two cases involving state bans on transgender students in sports during their next term, the court announced Thursday morning.
The order granting petition for writ of certiorari for five cases included Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. BPJ, two cases where transgender students are challenging state bans. Both students in the cases have previously won injunctions that allow them to currently compete in athletics.
A ruling on these cases could determine whether states can ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s student sports, and if these laws that are alleged to protect women’s and girls’ sports by limiting participation violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
Little v. Hecox involves 24-year-old Lindsey Hecox, a transgender runner who was seeking to compete on Boise State University’s women’s track and cross-country teams in Idaho. Lower courts allowed Hecox to try out, which resulted in the appeal from Idaho. She has received testosterone suppressants and estrogen treatment.
West Virginia v. BJP involves 15-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson, a high school student who throws discus and shot put for the girls’ track-and-field team. She takes puberty-blocking medication. After Southern District of West Virginia Judge Joseph R. Goodwin ruled in her favor, in January 2023 he concluded the law was likely legal and allowed it to be enforced against her. A U.S. circuit court blocked it from being enforced against her on appeal.
The nation’s highest court taking up the cases comes shortly after SCOTUS ruled that state bans on gender-affirming healthcare for minors are constitutional. That decision was 6-3 along ideological lines.
The justices will likely hear these latest cases later this year.