The Supreme Court dives back into the culture wars full steam on Tuesday with oral arguments in two cases that test laws banning transgender girls and women from participating in women’s sports at publicly funded schools.
Transgender participation in sports, though extremely rare, has become the newest flashpoint in both politics and law. Especially in 2024 when the Trump presidential campaign aired attack ads on the subject more than 15,000 times, putting Democrats decidedly on defense. Those numbers were compiled by the ad tracking firm AdImpact.
To date, 27 states have enacted laws barring transgender participation in sports. Supporters say the laws are needed to ensure fairness in athletic competition and to prevent athletes whose assigned sex at birth was male from having an unfair advantage in women’s sports. Opponents of these laws say they discriminate based on sex, in violation of both federal law and the constitution’s guarantee to equal protection of the law.
For athletes at every level, the issue is deeply personal, with tennis greats Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova on opposing sides, along with hundreds of other high-profile athletes.
Tuesdays test cases are factually very different. One involves an Idaho college student barred by state law from trying out for the Boise State University varsity women’s track team. The other case was brought by a West Virginia middle school student barred by state law from competing in school sports.
The case from West Virginia
Now in high school, Becky Pepper Jackson is apparently the only openly trans girl in the state seeking to play school sports.
Though her assigned sex at birth was male, she says she knew from a very young age that she was a girl, and by third grade she not only presented herself as a girl, she joined the girls running team in school.
Supreme Court weighs question of trans women in school sports : NPR
