The Supreme Court is hearing back-to-back cases on Tuesday from a pair of transgender athletes that will test the constitutionality of state laws barring their participation on girls’ and women’s sports teams.
The outcome of the cases from West Virginia and Idaho will put the justices back at the center of a contentious political issue with implications for the 25 other states with similar laws and for athletes who compete in school and collegiate sports around the country.
Becky Pepper-Jackson, a high school sophomore from West Virginia, and Lindsay Hecox, a college senior in Idaho, challenged the laws, which require that participation on sports teams for boys and girls be based on “biological sex,” defined as a person’s sex assigned at birth.
The Trump administration has targeted the participation of transgender athletes in sports and the rights of transgender people more broadly. President Trump in February directed agencies to withdraw federal funding from schools that allow transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports. The N.C.A.A. then announced it would bar transgender women from competing.
Supreme Court to Hear Challenges to State Bans on Transgender Athletes
