How Justices Reacted to Arguments in Women’s Sports Case |
The Supreme Court heard two cases out of Idaho and West Virginia on Tuesday that could determine the future of state laws banning males from playing female sports.
Chief Justice John Roberts, seen as a swing vote in the case, hinted that he would side with the states. He said allowing a male identifying as a female to compete in women’s sports could make federal Title IX statutes difficult to enforce.
“How we approach the situation of looking at it not as boys versus girls, but whether or not there should be an exception,” Roberts said during questioning. “If we adopted that, that would have to apply across the board and not simply to the area of athletics.”
Lindsay Hecox, a self-identified “transgender” athlete who wanted to be on the women’s track and cross-country teams at Boise State University, sued the state. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals imposed an injunction.
In the West Virginia case, the plaintiff, Becky Pepper-Jackson wanted to compete on the middle school girls’ cross-country team. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled West Virginia’s Save Women’s Sports Act violates Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs and school........